The Knothole Resistance
by Yukito097
Summary: Sonic the Hedgehog is defeated, but the Resistance still fights strong! These are the adventures of the Knothole Resistance, a small faction of the Resistance led by Sally Acorn, Princess of the Kingdom of Acorn, as they try to fight back against the nefarious Doctor "Eggman" Robotnik, his mechanical army, and the Masked Phantom responsible for defeating their hero.
1. The Knothole Resistance is Here!

"Eggman's attacking!"

The cry rang through the village and brought all activity to a standstill. As the racoon ran by repeating his warning, villagers dropped their things, gathered their children, and ran to their homes or to the nearest homes that would take them in.

"A badnik army is coming! Save yourselves!"

"AH-Hahahah! 'Save yourselves', he says!" Watching as the helpless villagers fled through the streets and hid in their homes, the small chinchilla Thunderbolt cackled from the safety of her hovercraft.

Mothers and elderly citizens locked themselves and their children into their homes, shutting their windows and drawing their blinds, whilst those able to fight grabbed weapons to defend themselves. "Your puny village escaped our notice for a while, but not anymore! Surrender now and I'll show you mercy!"

"We'll never surrender to the Eggman Empire!" one fox, wearing a feathered headdress, declared. The villagers behind him cheered, even as an army of robotic soldiers marched towards them. They were tall and bulky with spiked shoulder pads. The badniks pointed their fists at the villagers and fired lasers, hitting some and forcing the others to duck for cover.

"Egg Swats! Aim for the eyes!" Arrows and bullets were fired, and when the first three badniks fell, the villagers carrying close-ranged weapons charged. "Don't give in! We'll protect our village from the Eggman!"

"OH-HOHOHOHO!" Thunderbolt cackled as she watched the villagers' desperate stand against her army, only to fall one-by-one to the superior firepower of the robots. Still, a few seemed to know a thing or two about combat. A good number of Egg Swats had fallen and their formation was beginning to break up. "Well then, I guess it's my turn to-"

"Not today!"

Thunderbolt gasped and turned around, sparks flying from her fur as she came face-to-face with a brown-furred squirrel-chipmunk, wearing a blue vest and a pair of combat boots, and two blue bracelets that emitted energy blades along her forearms.

"Sally Acorn!" Thunderbolt held her hands out, but she was too late; Sally slashed at the hovercraft, damaging it and forcing it to fall onto the army of Egg Swats below. "NOOOOOO!"

Sally grinned as she extended her arms, using her blades like wings to glide safely down to the villagers. "The Knothole Resistance is here to help!"

"T-Thank you!" the fox with the headdress called out, before turning to the villagers. "Now's our chance! Let's drive out these invaders!"

"YEEEEEEEEAH!"

Thunderbolt roared as she jumped out from the crashed pod, electricity spraying wildly everywhere. "THAT WAS A GIFT FROM LORD EGGMAN! YOU WILL PAYYYYYY!"

"Just as planned," Sally whispered. "Now, Rotor!"

"On it!" From one of the alleyways, a purple-skinned walrus ran into the centre of the fray, carrying a large machine in his bulky arms. He stopped and planted the machine firmly into the ground, adjusting his glasses as he flicked several switches. A blue field generated, forming a wall that protected himself and the villagers from the bolts of electricity.

The only ones vulnerable now were the very bots that Thunderbolt had brought with her. One-by-one they fell. Her rampage eventually stopped, but not before almost all of her forces were defeated.

"So, you done now?" Sally asked, walking towards the enraged chinchilla as the shield dropped. "If so, then it's our turn!"

"You won't get out of here!" Thunderbolt threatened, jumping back into her pod as Sally and villagers rushed forwards. She sent the last of the Egg Swats to guard her as she activated the emergency force field in her pod, and by the time Sally reached her, she was safe behind a field of energy that no force could penetrate. "AHAHAHAHAH! Too bad! I've just sent out a distress signal! Soon, even _more_ Egg Swats will arrive, and Shadow, too!"

Sally gritted her teeth. "Don't mention that name," she warned.

"What, sad that he betrayed you?"

Sally wasn't so sad that Shadow had betrayed _her_, but more that he had betrayed her childhood friend… "Go ahead and bring him here. I'll be the one to pay him back for what he did."

Thunderbolt tilted her head, before she put two and two together, and gave a devious grin. "Oh, I see. You were in love with that loser, weren't you? That 'Sonic the Hedgehog'?" She saw Sally's eye twitch. Bullseye. "Must hurt knowing he died at the hands of his friend, huh?"

Sally swung a blade at the force field, shocking Thunderbolt and causing her to fall back as the impact shook the pod. "Sally!" Rotor called out. "Don't let her get under your skin! Remember the plan!"

Sally took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few moments. When she opened them, she exhaled. "… We'll be out of here before they arrive." With that, she turned and pointed to the east. "We have a ship prepared for you. Go there now!"

"A ship?" Thunderbolt asked. "Wait, that's… You stole _my_ ship?!"

"We sure did," Sally declared, waving goodbye to Thunderbolt as she left with the villagers. "I'll let you go this time! Try to get that temper under control!"

"WAIT! STOP RIGHT THERE!" Thunderbolt smashed the control to lift the force field, shattering it. "… GAAAAAHHHHH! NOW I'M STUCK IN HERE! HEY, DON'T TAKE LORD EGGMAN'S SHIIIIIIP!"

* * *

Antoine gulped as he watched the two Egg Swats standing in front of the control room. "H-How am I going to get in zere?" he whispered to himself, his hands trembling as he held his father's sabre. "Princess, why did you 'ave to assign _me_ to zis mission? I 'ave not ze combat experience to seize a whole _airship_ from ze doctor."

The Egg Swats turned to look his way, and Antoine hurriedly ducked around the corner, praying they had not seen him. "If only zere was a vent that could grant me access…"

_"Antoine!"_

"EEEEE!" Antoine clapped his hands over his mouth, sweat dripping down his head as his eyes shifted down to the radio at his hip.

"Antoine, are you there?! We've got the villagers and we're heading your way! Please tell me you have the airship under control!"

_"Ah, yes, well, about zat, ma princess, zere is being a slight complication…"_

Rotor sighed. "Meaning you can't find a safe way into the control room. Just take them head-on then!"

_"B-But mah expertise, it is in taking ze enemy out from behind zeir backs! From ze front is so… dangerous!"_

"Antoine, remember what your father taught you," Sally said. "We can see the airship now. We _need_ you to do this for us, okay? I believe in you."

…

"Antoine?"

_"Z-Zey have spotted me! Zey are coming zis wa-"_

* * *

The sound of a laser blast was the last thing they heard, before only static came from the other side. Concerned, Sally sped up. "I'm going on ahead!"

Rotor nodded. "We'll be fine! Go save Antoine!"

Sally made it to the airship first. As frightened as Antoine was, he was successful in taking out the bulk of the patrolling Egg Swats by utilising the ship's various vents and catwalks, as well as the subterfuge tactics his father had taught him.

Making her way to the control room, Sally readied her blades and slowed her pace. She rounded the corner, and found… "Antoine!"

There before her stood the brown-furred coyote with fancy blonde hair, wearing the distinctive blue jacket of her father's former military. In his hands was an elegant sabre with the name 'D'Coolette' inscribed along the side at the base of the blade.

At his feet were two downed Egg Swats, each one sporting many slash marks that caused their inner circuitry to fall out. He gasped and jumped at the sudden appearance of Sally, but relaxed upon identifying her. "M-Ma princess, I apologise for ze earlier interruption, but I was how you say, cut off, when zese two attacked me…"

Sally smiled. "Just glad you're okay. Knew you could it."

Antoine blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "Oui… All zat is left is ze cockpit, but she is locked."

"That's fine. I've got the universal key." Antoine stepped aside, and Sally rushed forwards, jumping and kicking the door so hard that it flew open. Inside, several Egg Swats pointed their hands at her, but she was too fast and nimble for their lasers. "You're too slow!" she taunted as she sliced the first one apart.

As Sally continued to make quick work of the badniks, Antoine crept inside and quietly made his way to the centre. Only one Egg Swat remained, and it was the one by the control panel. As it locked its sights on Sally, Antoine raised his blade and cut the robot in half. "Princess, we are in ze clear!" As Antoine sheathed his weapon, he regarded Sally with an odd look. "What was zat 'you're too slow'?"

Sally shrugged as she approached the control panel. "Just… something I picked up somewhere."

Antoine's face fell. "From zat Soneec ze Hedgehog?"

"'Sonic'," Sally corrected, "And… maybe."

Antoine sighed, but decided not to press it further. He did not care much for the hedgehog of legend, mainly because he held a tight grasp on the princess' heart, but he could not bring himself to speak ill of the dead…

_"Sally, we're onboard!"_ Rotor declared over the radio. _"But Shadow's on his way! Hurry!"_

Sally froze. All she had to do was press one button and they would launch into the air. Not even Chaos Control could reach them then, but…

"Princess, we must leave," Antoine said in a soft tone.

Sally swallowed, nodded her head, and hit the button. The ship launched, rising into the air quickly, before closing the door to the loading bay.

Minutes later, Rotor joined the two in the cockpit, together with the fox wearing the headdress, who bowed before the princess. "Princess Sally, I am Chief Spandem, and I must thank you for saving our village."

Sally shook her head. "Please, don't. All I could do was get you out of there, but your village…"

"That… is what I was going to ask you about next. Pray tell, where are we headed, and will there be room enough to accommodate us? We do not wish to impose, but…"

"We're heading to the main Resistance unit, headed by Knuckles the Echidna," Rotor said, examined the remains of the Egg Swats scatted about the floor. "Sal, I can take whatever parts I want from these, right?"

"Of course," Sally answered, watching with delight as Rotor's eyes lit up. She couldn't help but giggle, despite their situation. She returned her gaze to the chief. "As Rotor says, we will be heading to the main Resistance headquarters. Unfortunately there simply isn't enough room in Knothole for an entire village, but do not fret. Knuckles will find homes for all you. You will all be asked to help however you can, but-"

"No, no 'buts'. You rescued us from the Eggman. You will hear no complaints from us, Princess Sally." The chief bowed once more, and then turned to leave. "Oh, I should probably inform you, one of our scouts spotted unusual badnik activity in the forests due west of our village. We believe there is a hidden lab there."

"Is that why you asked us to come?" Sally asked. "You feared you may have been discovered?"

The chief shook his head. "We sent no such request. Our village is- _was_ poor, and we had no means of reaching the Resistance units." With that, the chief left the room.

Once he was out of earshot, Sally turned to Rotor. "So who was it then? Somebody tipped us off to that attack, but who?"

Rotor scratched his head through his cap, still examining the scraps beneath him. "Good question. The only name they gave us was 'F. F.'."

"I do not like eet," Antoine said with a huff. "Acting on information from zose who do not reveal zemselves."

"Well, we don't have a lot of choice," Sally replied. "The Knothole Resistance is small. We're practically running around in the dark as it is. But, at least now we know where our next target is."

"The forest?" Rotor asked, receiving a nod from Sally. "In that case, I'll whip up something to help with us stay hidden in that kind of terrain!"

Antoine grinned, standing tall and proud as he declared, "If it is leafy terrain of which you speak, then I am something of ze expert in that manner of combat."

"You mean hiding?" Rotor teased, earning a sharp glare from Antoine. Sally chuckled as she turned her attention back to piloting the airship, Antoine berating Rotor behind her whilst the latter simply continued to scavenge for parts.

* * *

Eggman tapped his foot on the ground as he glared down at the crashed pod, Thunderbolt smiling sheepishly back at him through the force field that she couldn't turn off. "I'm waiting for an explanation."

"I-It was a trap, sir!" Thunderbolt declared. "The Resistance, they knew of our attack! They knew we were coming and sent an army after us!"

"An army, huh?" Eggman turned to the black hedgehog beside him and asked, "Which Resistance unit was it?"

"It was the Knothole Resistance," the hedgehog replied.

Eggman turned back to Thunderbolt. "An army, was it? Three children playing soldiers?"

"T-There were more, honest!" Thunderbolt gulped. "A-And besides, they had some kind of advanced technology! T-That right there, it could deflect my electricity!"

Eggman turned to the remains of the machine that Rotor had planted earlier, and walked over to examine it. "You don't say. It seems they have something of a genius in their group. But still, this is of no use to me – it's designed to destroy itself from the inside after one use."

"And that's not all! That princess, she used some strange weapon! It was like, two swords, but they were made of energy!"

Eggman turned to Thunderbolt and gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "So they got some new toys. Are you suggesting the robots I gave you aren't enough? Or that _my_ weaponry is inferior to _theirs_?"

Thunderbolt recoiled. "O-Of course not, sir! I'm sorry, it won't happen again! Give me another chance, I'll-"

"You're lucky. I'm in a good mood today, having just crushed another resistance group. I'll let you off with a warning today." Eggman turned and walked back to his pod.

Thunderbolt sighed, wiping the sweat off her forehead. "Thank you, sir! You won't regret it! Um, but I can't quite get out of this, so-" In an instant, a blast was fired from Eggman's pod that completely shattered the force field. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

"Fail again, and the next shot will be aimed at _you_." Eggman grinned as he observed the fear in Thunderbolt's eyes. "Ta-ta for now!"

"S-Sir… I'm on it, sir…" Thunderbolt sighed, and then passed out.


	2. Into The Bunker

Sally, Antoine and Rotor spied on the badniks standing in the middle of what seemed to be an empty clearing. They were two Egg Soldiers, equipped with spears in one hand, and shields in the other. They stared blankly into space, every minute checking their surroundings, before returning to their stationary positions.

"There's no doubt. There's an entrance somewhere here," Sally whispered, passing her binoculars to Rotor. "Those soldiers each have a warning beacon. If we alert them, they'll send an S.O.S. to all nearby Egg Bases."

"I think I see a hatch just behind them," Rotor said. "There's no way we can open it without them noticing. They're also equipped with 360-degree sensors – they can see anything that happens all around them. Them checking their sides is just a bluff tactic, but… these 'bots look like they haven't been maintained in some time."

"Meaning?" Antoine asked.

"Meaning that whatever's here might have been abandoned some time ago. We'll likely just dig up old info the Resistance already knows about."

"It's still worth checking out," Sally declared. "Any idea how to take them without tripping the alarm?"

"That's easy. Although they can see all around them, they can only react to one thing at a time. If we send out a diversion in front of them – something that won't scare them – then we can attack from behind and take them down before they call for help."

"What would we be sending?" Antoine asked, when suddenly, a small bunny rabbit began to nibble at his boot. He tried to shoo it away, but it seemed enamoured with him. "Please be leaving. We are having a discussion of strategy."

"Wait, that's it!" Rotor proclaimed in a hushed cheer. "We'll send this lil' guy out in front of them. They'll see it and react, but when they see it's just a mobini, they won't be alerted."

Sally picked up the small rabbit and asked it, "Could you do us a favour? We really need your help with this."

The rabbit looked concerned, but when Sally offered it a carrot, it happily obliged. Hopping through the bushes, the rabbit sat and waited, observing the two badniks in the distance. Eventually, the trio got behind the robots and Sally gave the critter a small nod.

Scurrying out into the clearing, the rabbit caught the attention of the two Egg Soldiers, who turned immediately and analysed the new presence. As they did, Sally and Antoine rushed out from their hiding places and struck, slicing the badniks apart and taking away their beacons. Whilst Rotor disabled them, Sally and Antoine examined the hatch and found a way to open it.

The hatch creaked loudly as it opened, and they had to put quite some force into it. "It's supposed to open automatically," Rotor pointed out. "As I thought, this place hasn't been used for some time. These badniks were running on reserve power, too. Likely would've only lasted a few more months."

"Well, if nothing else, we have another place to hide refugees," Sally pointed out, turning to the small rabbit that scurried towards them for its reward. Smiling, she took a carrot from her satchel and gave it to their new friend. "Thank you. Now you be careful about where you forage,okay?"

The rabbit took its prize and hopped off happily. Rotor scratched the back of his head as he watched. "I know he helped us and all, but we're running low on food, Sal. That carrot was your only ration for this mission, right?"

"It's a small price to pay," Sally replied.

"Ma princess, if I may, I will offer my own share to you," Antoine offered, but Sally shook her head.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. Come on, let's check this place out and get out of here."

The three descended into the dark and damp hallway beneath the hatch. The lights were not functioning, but Rotor's flashlight, powered by a power ring, lit the way. Everything was made of metal, and adorned with the ghoulish face of the tyrant that had torn their world apart in the past months.

After some walking, the trio stumbled upon what appeared to be a storage room at first glance. However, as they observed more, they found that it was more like a prison. No, more like a laboratory and a prison put into one.

Sally gulped. "Don't tell me… he was abducting Mobians and using them as test subjects here?"

Rotor slammed a fist against a wall. "Looks that way," he said, pointing his light at a wall of open cages, each one labelled with simple numbers and species classifications.

"Hello? Is somebuddy there?"

The three gasped, looking around for the source of the voice. "Who's there?!" Sally called out, activating her energy blades as Antoine unsheathed his sword.

"M-Ma name's Bunnie. Bunnie Rabbot. Please, help me. A-Ah don't know where ah am. Ah can't see anyth-"

"Hello?!" Sally called out as the voice fell silent.

"S-Sorry, it's hard to talk. A-Ah haven't eaten in some time…"

"We'll get you out! So stay with us just a little longer!" Sally gritted her teeth. No matter where she looked, there was no sign of another Mobian in the room. Then, she saw that one of the walls looked strange. Or rather, a section of a wall above a desk. She moved closer to it slowly, and felt it. "It's a partition! It must be used for observing test subjects."

"Can we break through it?" Rotor asked.

Sally knocked against the partition, and shook her head. "It's a Power Ring Matrix. Its power is almost faded, but it's still strong. Robotnik must have been afraid of whatever it was he was trying to create."

"We must restore ze power to zis facility," Antoine declared. "Rotor, your power ring, it can do zat, non?"

Rotor nodded. "Yeah, but we need to know where to- Ah." Rotor settled his flashlight on a nearby box, which adorned a symbol resembled a bolt of lightning. "There. Get the cover off of that and I'll plug the power ring in."

Antoine used his sabre to force the cover off, disturbing a thick layer of dust in the process. As he coughed and wheezed, Rotor removed the power ring from his flashlight and put it into the grid. "Okay, now just flip this switch…" The entire room hummed to life, the lights turning on and the door leading outside closing. Antoine screamed, but Rotor simply said, "Calm down. It's not locked, it just closed as the power came on."

"I-I knew zat," Antoine said, blushing. "Anyway, ze power is on, but ze partition is still lowered."

"The lights came on in here," Bunnie called out from the other side. "Ah can see better now…"

"We're getting there," Sally said. "We just need to know how to raise this partition."

"I think I can help with that," another new voice called out, startling the group.

"Who said that?!" Rotor demanded.

"O-On your guard! We will not surrender today!" Antoine yelled.

"Please, don't be afraid!" the voice responded. "I'm sorry to startle you. You're Julian's enemies, are you not?"

Sally raised an eyebrow, cautiously walking forward. "'Julian'? It's been a long time since anybody's referred to him as _that_."

"Oh? It has been a long time since I have been activated, so I may not be caught up on recent events."

"'Activated'?" Rotor asked.

Sally turned to where she could hear the voice, and found an old computer console. On the screen was a line of text that read out exactly what they had just heard from this mysterious voice. It vanished, and was replaced by what the voice said next.

"That's right. Julian deactivated me many years ago, and I have been drifting in cyberspace ever since."

Sally approached the computer. "Are you… in here?"

"Yes. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nicole."

"An AI?" Rotor asked as he and Antoine approached the console.

"Not quite," Nicole replied. "Oh, before we continue, perhaps I should raise the partition. Here." A few seconds later, the partition raised. Behind it was a thick cage of glass, and inside that glass was a yellow-furred rabbit wearing a filthy, torn-up brown robe. The garb that Eggman gave to his prisoners that were forced into labour.

What caught everybody's eyes, though, were the rabbit's unusual limbs. Her left arm, and her entire body from the waist-down, were robotic. Sally felt like she could vomit in her own mouth, but she held it in as Rotor and Antoine rushed to the cage. "What happened to her?"

Rotor found a door in the glass and opened it, and the two boys rushed inside to check on Bunnie. "T-Thanks," Bunnie said, smiling despite how weak she clearly was.

"Your arms, your legs," Antoine began. "What madness has zat vile doctor subjected you to?!"

Rotor hoisted Bunnie onto his back and carried her out of the cage. "H-He said it was an experiment," Bunnie explained. "A device to turn Mobians into robots. 'Robotization', he called it."

"It seems the experiment failed, though, and only half of her body took to the process," Nicole added. "Any more likely would have killed the host."

"Ah wasn't the first," Bunnie said. "There were others. None of 'em made it, an' when _ah_ 'failed', too, the doc' got mad an' ran on out of here, sayin' he was givin' up an' I could go ahead an' rot in here."

"How awful," Sally said, approaching Bunnie to comfort her.

"I assume you will all be leaving now," Nicole surmised. "Please, if you do, take me with you! I can't be trapped here any longer! I'll do whatever I can to help you! I can even access Julian's data files and provide intel, so-"

"Before we decide on anything," Rotor interjected, "Perhaps you could explain exactly what you are?"

The room fell silent, and after a few moments, Nicole sighed. "Yes, that… would be the proper course of action. I do not like talking about it though, but I will try… You see, twelve years ago, I was just a little girl. Nikki was my name back then. I was only six when I was playing outside one day, and I was approached by a man who called himself Doctor Julian. He offered me candy if I would help him out. Being such a naíve girl, in a quiet village where nothing ever happened, I went with him…"

"And then?" Sally pressed.

"… I woke up here, in this very computer." A few seconds passed, and then Nicole continued. "From what I've pieced together in my years trapped in cyberspace, it appears that Julian was researching how to digitize a mind and restore it to a physical body. Likely a means to ensure he would live forever."

Antoine shuddered at the thought. "Robotneek, living forever… Zat would truly be ze end of days!"

"It seems his experiments went nowhere, though. I was the final subject, and although he succeeded, my original body died very quickly and it became impossible to download my mind into another. So he gave up and abandoned this facility, switching me off in the process."

"Jus' like me," Bunnie said, sympathy in her voice.

"You said this happened twelve years ago?" Sally asked. "If it did, then how was he still conducting experiments down here?" Sally turned to Bunnie. "There's no way you could have survived down here for _twelve years_, right?"

Bunnie shook her head. "Ah lost track of time, but ah'm sho' enough ah've not been down more than two months. Thankfully, there was _some_ food an' water in the cage, but… ah had to ration it."

"I… don't know, exactly," Nicole admitted. "As I said, I have been offline since then. Anything I know is what I have pieced together from Julian's files, and even then, most of that has been localised to this console only. My connection to his cloud server was severed some time ago."

"Wait, you can get onto Robotnik's cloud servers?" Rotor asked.

"I _could_. Perhaps I still can, if they function similarly today as they did five years ago."

"Robotnik's nothing if not an ego-maniac," Sally said with a grin. "He rarely changes what's 'perfect'."

"I say we take her with us," Rotor said. "With access to Robotnik's data, we can finally do some real damage."

"I must advise zat we act with caution," Antoine replied. "We must not be taking her word at face-value. It could be an elaborate trap by ze Doctor to lower down our guards!"

"This place was abandoned, 'Twan!" Rotor pointed out. "There's no way this is a trap!"

"For what it's worth, ah can vouch that the Eggman hasn't been down here since he left me," Bunnie said. "Nobody has, save for you three."

Sally returned to the console, and stared dead into the monitor. "… Nicole, let me just ask you one question."

"… Okay."

"Are you telling the truth?"

There was a pause, and then Nicole responded, "I am. Please, believe me!"

Sally smiled. "Okay then. That's all I needed to hear. I'll trust you, Nicole."

"Princess, are you sure zis is wise?" Antoine asked.

"I am," Sally responded, reaching into her satchel. "This console hasn't been used in such a long time, so I'm sure it's not a trap. And besides that, I can hear it in her voice. Something… just makes me want to believe her. Like, I know how much she's suffered, and how real her fear is." Sally pulled out a small device and a cable. She plugged the device into the computer. "And besides, nobody deserves to be left all alone, right?"

Antoine smiled, and nodded. Rotor nodded too. "Right you are, Sal," Rotor said.

Sally keyed some commands and then turned to the console. "You ready? I'm about to transfer you into my handheld."

"As I'll ever be," Nicole responded, and with that, Sally executed the transfer program. The monitor on the console faded to black, and the handheld lit up. "I-It worked! I'm in your handheld now! Oh, I brought all the data from Julian's computer with me. I'll set it aside for you to go through later."

Sally smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Nicole. My name is Sally Acorn."

"I'm Rotor," Rotor chimed in. "Guess we forgot to introduce ourselves, huh?"

Antoine stood tall and said, "And I am-"

"Say, could I ask a small favour?" Nicole asked suddenly. "That power ring, if you're no longer using it to power the facility, could you plug it into your handheld? I might be able to use the energy to connect to Julian's servers."

Sally motioned to Antoine, who begrudgingly fetched the power ring. The facility's lights turned off, and he had to stumble through the darkness as he made his way to the flickering light of Nicole's new home.

"Thank you," Nicole said as the power ring was attached to the top of the handheld. A few moments of silence passed, Nicole's screen exhibiting the facial expressions of somebody in deep thought. Then, suddenly, the pixels formed a light bulb. "Okay, I've found them! It'll take some time, but it looks like I can use my former access to Julian's servers to find a backdoor in!"

"That's great!" Sally cheered. "And by the way, he goes by 'Robotnik' now-a-days."

"'Robotnik', I'll make a note," Nicole said, her screen drawing a smiling face.

"Welp, time to trudge our way through the darkness to get out of here," Rotor moaned.

"Oh, about that," Nicole said. "There's something else it seems I can do, now that I have this power ring." The ring lit up, and that light shot out from the handheld. Everybody gasped as the light took the form of a brown-furred, black-tinted Lynx girl with a slim purple dress, and long black hair tied in twin pigtails.

The lynx smiled at the startled Mobians and bowed. "It's nice to meet you all. I am Nicole, the Holo-Lynx." Nicole's hologram shone bright enough for everybody to see, and she gestured to the door leading outside. "I will be your guide today. I look forward to working with all of you."


	3. Home Sweet Home

In the Kingdom of Acorn, there was a forest, known simply as the Great Forest. This forest was ancient, the trees larger than in any other forest on Mobius and the depths seemingly endless. One could wander into the forest, without knowing where they were going, end up lost for weeks before finally finding a way out. And thanks to the Lake of Rings situated in its centre, the forest was protected from the same large-scale deforestation methods commonly used by the Eggman Empire.

So it was only natural that the Resistance would use the forest as one of its safe havens, and that is exactly what Princess Sally had done when she and her friends escaped from the destruction of Mobotropolis four months ago.

A secret passed down through the Acorn line revealed a clearing in the middle of the forest, known as Knothole Glade, and this clearing was used by the Acorn family's Secret Service for centuries, before their mysterious disappearance a couple of months prior to the attack. After the attack on Mobotropolis, those who had escaped wandered to this clearing hoping to find them there. However, the place was empty.

Secret tunnels led to a large, maze-like complex underground, but it was empty. Weapons and armour were left unattended, food had been left to rot in the kitchens, dust had piled up in many rooms, and computers with sensitive information were left unguarded.

Whatever the reason for the Secret Service's sudden disappearance, it was clear that they would not be able to help. And so, Sally took it on herself to lead her people. With the help of her friends, Rotor and Antoine, and her mentors Julayla and Rosie, Sally was able to restore order and establish the base of operations for the Knothole Resistance.

Bunnie Rabbot was awestruck as she entered the clearing. It had been so long she had seen nature so pristine and untouched. Beautiful, green fields of grass stretched into the distance, a river of clean freshwater flowed through, and flowers of all colours blossomed everywhere.

The village itself was small – simple wooden huts and treehouses and some large farms, a small schoolhouse and a park for the little ones to play. However, when Sally showed her one of the secret tunnels to get underground, Bunnie realised just how big Knothole truly was. She was certain she would be lost within minutes trying to navigate the base by herself.

"Antoine, can you go to the kitchen and prepare some food for Bunnie?" Sally asked. "We'll take her to Doctor Quack for a quick check-up."

"Oui. I will be zere in a lickety-split." Antoine wandered off down one corridor, and Sally and Rotor continued down another, the latter carrying Bunnie on his back.

"Doctor Quack was my father's private physician back before the war started," Sally explained. "Since then though, he's headed our medical team here in Knothole."

"The king's doctor?" Bunnie asked. "Mah stars…"

"And then after that we'll give you the grand tour." Sally looked down at her handheld. "You too, Nicole."

Nicole drew a smile on her screen. Bunnie looked over Rotor's shoulder and asked, "So how come ya turned off your hologram?"

"That form eats up a lot of energy," Nicole explained, "And the Power Ring I'm using was already drained. It'll need a recharge."

"We'll stop by the Lake of Rings later," Sally assured her. "First, I'd like to give the data you gave us to Uncle Chuck."

"Uncle Chuck?" Nicole asked, a question mark appearing on her screen.

"He's the one who set up all our electronic systems," Sally explained. Rotor cleared his throat behind her. "With Rotor's help," she added.

"He's a scientist whose smarts are on-par with Robotnik's," Rotor said. "Charles the Hedgehog is his real name, but we all call him Uncle Chuck."

An exclamation mark appeared on Nicole's screen. "Oh! I have data on him! He was one of Julian's – that is, Robotnik's – research partners."

"He worked with Robotnik?" Bunnie asked.

"Back then, Robotnik hadn't shown his true colours yet," Rotor explained. "He had us all fooled. He claimed he had come to Mobius purely for research, but he was actually using it as a base of operations, and a testing ground for his creations."

"Uncle Chuck hit it off with Julian right away, mostly because he was thrilled to meet somebody as interested in science as himself," Sally said. "Julian just wanted Uncle Chuck's expansive knowledge of Mobian life, ecosystems, geology… anything that would help him when he launched his attack."

Bunnie gripped Rotor's shoulders as she reeled in anger, though in her weakened state the walrus didn't mind. "That no-good piece'uv… If'n there's one thing ah hate more than a bully, it's a traitor!"

The three arrived at the infirmary, where they were found there was no queue, though somebody was already seeing Doctor Quack. "Well then, I'll go and take Nicole to Uncle Chuck," Sally said, waving goodbye to Rotor and Bunnie as the latter two waited outside to see the doctor.

"Say, Bunnie, um… Sorry if this is inappropriate, but I was wondering about your limbs…"

"What about 'em?"

"Well, how does it feel?" Rotor immediately regretted asking. "I mean, if you feel uncomfortable talking about it then you don't have to-"

"It felt strange t' begin with," Bunnie said, staring intently at her left arm. Her fingers moved one-by-one, and she frowned. "But after a spendin' a bit of time in that cell, I realised it was jus' like usin' mah regular old arm. There's no pain if'n it gets hurt, though."

"Oh, I see…" Rotor swallowed nervously as he tried to work up the nerve to ask his next question. "Um, would you mind if I… I mean, after your check-up with Doctor Quack, would you mind it if I studied your arm and legs for a bit?" There was a brief silence, and Rotor quickly added, "There might be a way to reverse it and all, y'know?"

Bunnie gasped. "Y'really think y'all can put mah body back the way it was?"

"W-Well, maybe." Rotor sighed. "Maybe Uncle Chuck could. I just wanted to look for curiosity's sake… Sorry, Bunnie."

Bunnie leaned down against Rotor's back, silent for a few more seconds. "Well, ah wouldn't mind if ya had a look," Bunnie said. "Y'all did save me, after all. It's the least ah could do to say 'thank you'."

Rotor shook his head. "You don't have to force yourself."

"Ah'm tellin' ya, it's okay." Bunnie returned her gaze to her arm and said, "An' maybe, if y'can't reverse it after all, y'all could give it some upgrades?"

Rotor hummed in thought. "Upgrades, huh? What did you have in mind?"

"How 'bout some lasers? Then ah'd be jus' like a super hero."

Rotor laughed. "Then in that case, how about a rocket-propelled fist?"

Bunnie got stars in her eyes. "Y'all can do that? Then, put rockets in mah feet, too! Then ah can fly! Ah could fly up to Robotnik's airship and fire mah fist in that smug ol' face of his!"

Rotor and Bunnie shared a hearty laugh as they discussed all manner of hypothetical upgrades and ways that they could be used to school Robotnik. They were so caught up in their discussion that they had failed to notice the yellow-feather duck calling out to them the first two times.

On the third time, they finally realised that Doctor Quack was standing there, waiting for them to follow him into his office. They entered, and Rotor lay Bunnie down gently on an empty bed. Doctor Quack then hooked up all manner of machine to her body. "I'll check her vitals and give her an X-ray. I'll also need to test her blood."

"Y'sure all this's necessary, Doc?"

Doctor Quack read one of the monitors as he replied. "You've been malnourished for some time, and in one of Robotnik's old labs, no less. Better to take no chances."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Rotor asked.

"Just sit there for now. I'll need you to help when I'm drawing her blood samples."

"Samples?" Bunnie asked, her ears flopping. "How many d'you need?"

Doctor Quack didn't answer. He simply prepped a needle and some empty vials, earning a worried whimper from his patient.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sally entered Charles' lab with Nicole in her hand. The lab was more of a large, empty room with spare mechanical parts thrown about everywhere, and a couple of workbenches to the side. At one of those benches was the blue hedgehog in question, the wise and intelligent scientist, Charles the Hedgehog.

He turned as he heard footsteps behind him, and beamed at Sally's presence. "Oh, my girl! I didn't realise you were back. I trust everything went well."

"More than well," Sally answered. "We made two new friends. Prisoners of Robotnik, left abandoned in one of his old labs."

Charles bristled at that. "That dastardly… It's one thing to abuse the power of science the way he does, but then to simply abandon it at a whim?! And leaving others to suffer for it, no less!" Charles sighed, and then cleared his throat. "Forgive me, I do get rather carried away. So, these friends of yours, how are they?"

"Well, one's getting checked-up by Doctor Quack right now," Sally replied, before holding up her handheld. "The other one is…"

"Hello, Sir Charles!" Nicole greeted, a smiling face on her screen. "It is a pleasure to meet you! My name is Nicole."

Charles' eyes widened as he stared at the small monitor. "An AI?"

"Not quite…" Sally explained the story to Charles, about how Nikki was kidnapped and digitized by Robotnik, and how she had access to some of Robotnik's old data. "Anyway, I thought it would be best to leave it with you."

"Extraordinary," Charles mumbled, stroking his chin as he stared at the handheld. "Yes, you are quite right to bring this to my attention, but… how are you so certain that what she is telling us is the truth?"

Nicole fell silent at this, and Sally averted her eyes as she answered, "Well, it's just a feeling I had after I questioned her. It didn't seem like she was lying… More than that, her fear and her pain, they felt real. To me, at least."

Charles closed his eyes and chuckled, drawing a confused look from Sally and a question mark from Nicole. "Ah, just like your father, and his father before him. The Acorn family has a tendency to trust their feelings… Though here, I must say that I share your sentiments."

Sally brightened up at this. "You mean you _do_ trust Nicole?"

"At the very least, she doesn't seem like one of Julian's signature traps." Charles turned around and reached for a laptop sitting on his bench. He opened it and extended a cable from its side. "Well then, let's have a look at this data. It may be old, but it could still prove valuable to the Resistance."

Sally put Nicole down as Charles plugged her into the laptop. As he set to work extracting the data, Sally felt something poking at her leg. She looked down to find cream-furred dog staring up at her excitedly, wagging its tail and it panted. It barked, and Sally smiled as she leaned down to pet it.

"We're back, Muttski! Another successful mission!"

"Who's Muttski?" Nicole asked from her position on the desk. "And what was that sound?"

Sally stood up, picking Muttski up with both arms, and faced him at Nicole. "Nicole, meet Muttski. Muttski, Nicole."

"A… dog?" Nicole asked. "Um, how do you do? You look… different from most other dogs. Though I suppose I haven't met many."

Sally giggled, confusing Nicole even more. "Muttski's not a typical Mobian dog," Charles explained, still typing away on his laptop. "He's an unevolved species that still exists on Earth, similar to mobini, but much bigger."

"A mobini? That's that big?" Muttski barked, and Nicole drew a frowny face on her screen. "D-Did I offend him?"

Sally laughed, and said, "No, that's just how he talks. I think he likes you."

"Oh, is that right? Well, I would like it if we could be friends, Muttski." Muttski barked again. "Uh, I'll take that as a yes."

Sally waved Muttski's paw before gently lowering him down. "We'll play later Muttski, but we have important work to do now. Can you wait just a little longer?"

Muttski whimpered, but then barked once more and ran over to a small basket in the room. He lay down and curled up in the basket, and not long after, Charles announced that he was finished.

"That's all of the data! Most of it looks corrupt, but give me a day with it and I'll sift through everything and compile all the readable data."

"You're a life-saver, Uncle Chuck," Sally said as she picked up Nicole. "I'll drop by later to see how you're doing. But for now, I have to drop by the Lake of Rings, and then see how Bunnie – our other guest – is doing."

"Just leave it with me, Princess. I'll have that data sorted in no time at all!"

* * *

When Sally returned to Doctor Quack's office, she had been told Bunnie's check-up was complete and, barring any negative results from her blood tests, she was in good health. Rotor had taken her to the mess hall, where Antoine had gone to earlier.

As Sally entered the hall, she was delighted to see one energetic rabbit gobbling up food faster than a child opening their birthday presents. Antoine was struggling to keep up and had pulled Rotor into helping him in the kitchen.

"Easy now," Sally said as she approached Bunnie at the long, empty table where she was eating. The mess hall would usually be full at lunchtime, but as it was late into the evening, they were the only ones there. "You're going to run the poor boys ragged."

Bunnie stopped to swallow the load of food in her mouth and then looked over to where Antoine and Rotor were preparing more good. She giggled sheepishly, her cheeks turning bright-red. "Sorry 'bout that. It jus' tasted so good, ah forgot where ah was for a second there."

Sally shook her head. "I'm only joking. They're used to far worse, trust me." Sally took a seat next to Bunnie and set Nicole down. "I'm glad to see you doing so well. It must feel good to have a proper meal after so long."

"Sho' enough!" Bunnie's ears fell as she turned to face Sally, realisation suddenly sinking in. "O-Oh dear, ah'm so sorry. Y'all are giving me so much, but are you sure ya have the food to spare?"

Sally waved a hand dismissively. "Don't give it a second thought. We ration our food, yes, but we do that specifically so that we have plenty of it for liberated prisoners."

Rotor set a plate of spaghetti down next to Bunnie, a reassuring smile on his face. "Don't worry about our food stores. Just eat up until you're feeling at full strength again."

Bunnie smiled back. "Thanks, y'all are sweet. But ah think ah'll be fine after this last servin'."

Antoine breathed a sigh of relief as he set down a bowl of stew and slumped over the table. "Oh thank goodness… Finally I can be taking ze much-needed break."

Sally and Rotor laughed as Bunnie dug into the food for just a few seconds, before they were all interrupted by the sudden appearance of a pig wearing a blue vest, running into the mess hall with a letter in his hand and a look of urgency on his face. "Hamlin, what is it?!" Sally asked, rising to her feet.

"We got another letter from that F. F.," Hamlin reported, stopping to catch his breath as he handed the letter to Sally.

Sally examined the letter, nodding her head as she did so. "Who's this 'F. F.'?" Bunnie asked.

"We don't know," Rotor said with a shrug. "They sent us a letter recently tipping us off to an attack on a small fox-and-wolf tribe."

"The information before was accurate," Sally said, "But we shouldn't be ready to trust them just yet. This letter says there's a generator run by Robotnik. I think we should check it out and see if this F. F. person shows up."

"We should take a small group, just to be safe," Rotor said, to which Bunnie quickly shot up her hand.

"Ah'll come along!" Bunnie said, stars in her eyes. "Ah wanna thank ya for savin' me!"

"That's not necessary," Sally insisted, but Bunnie shook her head.

"A Rabbot never leaves their debts unpaid. Ah'm comin' an' that's final."

Rotor snapped his fingers. "In that case, let's wait a few days! I can look into those upgrades you asked me about and use this as a field-test."

At that, Sally raised an eyebrow. "Upgrades?"

"You'll see," Rotor promised. "Don't want to spoil the surprise for you."

"Be zat as it may," Antoine began, "Ze Eggman has many generators, all over ze world. Why should we be targetting zis one in particular?"

Sally grinned. "Because, Antoine, this one is special. It's powered by a Chaos Emerald."


	4. Mina Mongoose

"Why?! Why haven't we found them yet?!" Thunderbolt demanded, stamping her foot repeatedly on the ground as she glared up at Shadow. "You'd better not be slacking off!"

"We are searching for them with all our resources, but you aren't exactly giving us the best directions," Shadow replied. "Besides that, you're stretching us too thin looking for this one Resistance group. At this rate we'll fall behind schedule and-"

"That doesn't matter," Thunderbolt stated, stomping over to a nearby console. She jumped onto the highchair placed next to it and slammed her hands over a few buttons, brining up images of the various cellblocks in the base. "The Knothole Resistance has made Lord Eggman question my worthiness! They have to pay for that! These prisoners can wait – if a few happen to starve before their transfer, it's not a huge loss."

"Eggman needs that labour to complete his grand plan," Shadow explained. "His robots can only do so much. You don't want to be responsible for delaying the Doctor now, do you?"

Thunderbolt turned around to say something, but before she could, alarms rang out all around her. "Oh, what now?!" She turned back and slammed on a few more buttons, bringing up an image of a cellblock where one of the cages was open. "What happened?!"

Shadow approached and studied the cage on the screen. "It looks like one of the prisoners had an explosive, small enough to fit into the lock and force it open."

"Why did the guards not do anything?!"

"Because there are none. They're out looking for the Knothole Resistance."

Thunderbolt fizzled with electricity and she roared. "Don't give me your sass! Just go find the escaped prisoner and put them back into their cage!" After not hearing a response for several seconds, Thunderbolt turned to reprimand the hedgehog, only to find him gone. With a huff, she turned back to the console and shut off the alarm. "I hate that hedgehog…"

"I knew zis was a bad idea," Antoine muttered as he peeked out from behind a tree, observing the badniks searching all over the forest, behind every bush and under every rock. "Zere is no way past such security."

"We just have to stay low," Sally said, motioning for Antoine to crouch down. She looked over to Bunnie and Rotor, who had scouted ahead to see if the path was clear. "Well?"

"Not exactly clear," Rotor said glumly, "But they're disorganised. It won't be hard to sneak past them if we're careful."

Sally nodded, and looked down at Nicole's handheld. "How much farther 'til we reach the generator?"

"Not far left," Nicole said, "But it's situated _outside_ the forest, so we'll be completely exposed."

Antoine grumbled. "Of course eet is. Nothing is ever ze simple task, non?"

"Quit yer bellyachin'," Bunnie said. "Ah thought y'all had ta be brave to fight'n the Resistance."

"We're all scared, Bunnie," Sally said. "Just… some more than others," she added, throwing Antoine a sly grin.

Antoine let out an indignant huff. "Zere is a difference between scared and cautious."

"That's right," Rotor agreed. "Sally's cautious, and you're scared." He and Sally both chuckled, whilst Antoine simply pouted and continued on in silence.

"But if you're so scared all the time, why would ya fight with the Resistance then?" Bunnie asked.

"Because ze Doctor has taken too much from us," Antoine answered, "And for zat, he must pay. Plus, if not I, then who?"

Bunnie looked back at Antoine, her eyes wide as she came to a sudden stop. The others stopped with her. "Y'all fight so no one else has to?"

Antoine cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "W-Well, nobody _wants_ to fight. But, a worrywart though I may be, I _can_ still fight, and so it is my noble duty to do so."

"Huh. When ya put it that way, it almost makes ya sound brave," Bunnie said, bringing smirks to Sally and Rotor's faces.

"He wouldn't be here with us if we didn't trust him in battle," Sally stated. "Antoine's been a big help, and he's always had our backs ever since we were little."

The three continued through the forest, avoiding the searching badniks and eventually reaching an opening to a large field outside. Sally pulled out her binoculars and scanned the area ahead. "There's a generator alright, but it's guarded by an army of badniks. Too many to take on."

"Then we go in quiet?" Rotor asked, but Sally shook her head.

"The generator's backed against a ravine. There's no getting behind it, and there's a watchtower to the side with no cover to hide behind."

"It looks like we will have to surrender zis mission for today," Antoine said. "We must come back when we are more properly prepared."

Sally sighed, lowering her binoculars as she reluctantly agreed. "I suppose it wouldn't be so easy to get a Chaos Emerald of all things."

"What if we just rush in there and nab it, real fast-like?" Bunnie suggested.

"The badniks might not be the best shots, but even they'd have a hard time missing us in such an open field," Rotor pointed out. "Besides, even if we got in there, we'd have to find the Emerald, remove it safely, and get out while under fire. Nobody's _that_ fast."

"Ah bet with mah new rocket boots-"

"It's not worth the risk," Sally cut in. "It's fine, we've confirmed the generator's location and know its defences. We'll organise a proper assault and come back later."

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!"

Everybody turned suddenly to the field, drawn to the sound of somebody screaming in the distance. "Someone's in trouble!" Bunnie exclaimed.

"Where?!" Rotor asked as Sally brought her binoculars back out.

"Z-Zere!" Antoine pointed ahead, to where a cloud of dust seemed to be tearing across the landscape, moving towards the watchtower. Behind it, flying drones gave chase and fired laser beams at the ground.

"SOMEBODY, HELP ME!"

"What now?!" Rotor asked.

Sally activated her energy blades and turned to Antoine and Bunnie. "New mission. We're gonna rescue that Mobian! Bunnie, keep the watchtower distracted! Antoine, you're with me! Rotor, you keep our escape route open!"

"Got it," Rotor responded, pulling a flare gun from his backpack. "I'll signal if things go bad."

"Ah'll give 'em somethin' ta watch, alright!" Bunnie said, clenching her fists.

"Okay team, let's do it to it!" The team unleashed a battle cry as they ran out into the open. Bunnie's rocket-propelled feet allowed her to reach the watchtower quickly, and as she hovered in the air, the badniks at the top began firing on her.

Bunnie extended her arm and shot back, using her new built-in cannons, but a force field rendered her shots useless. "It must be drawin' power from the nearby generator," Bunnie concluded, continuing her onslaught regardless of its futility. "Ah jus' gotta keep their eyes on me!"

Sally and Antoine ran towards the moving dust cloud, the former waving her arms as she called out to it. "Over here!" The dust cloud seemed to turn, and began heading their way. Within seconds it had reached them, and the two had to screech to a grinding halt to avoid crashing into it.

As they stopped, they came face-to-face with a yellow-furred mongoose with long, purple hair. She was dressed in a short, black tanktop and brown shorts. "T-Thank goodness there's someone out here!" The mongoose panted as she tried to catch her breath. "I couldn't keep running anymore!"

"It's alright, you're safe now," Sally assured, getting in front of the tired mongoose as the flying badniks raced towards them. "Antoine, get her to the forest! I'll take care of the pursuers!"

"No, you can't!" the girl cried. "I tried taking them down, but they have some kind of shield that protects them!"

"They what?" Sally observed the drones closely as they approached. They began firing, and she charged towards them, dodging and deflecting their shots as she closed in. She swung her left blade, only for it to bounce fiercely off the drone and send vibrations through Sally's whole body. "She's right, they're protected! Antoine, run!"

"O-Oui!" Antoine grabbed the girl's wrist and attempted to flee, only to find more badniks approaching from the forest. Behind them, he could see Rotor's flare. "We are cut off!"

Sally gritted her teeth as she continued to dodge the drones' attacks. "It must be the generator! They're using the Chaos Emerald to generate shields around nearby badniks!"

"Zey can do zat?!" Antoine asked as he parried an incoming blow, followed by another, and another, each one forcing him back.

"The generator…" The mongoose observed the generator in the distance. She clenched her fist and nodded her head. "So we just need to remove the Chaos Emerald from it, right?"

"What?" Sally asked. "Well, yeah, but there's no way we can-"

"Alright, leave it to me!" the girl said, smiling and giving Sally a thumbs up. "Oh, my name's Mina, by the way. Mina Mongoose."

Sally gasped at the pose Mina made, followed by the way the mongoose lowered herself and kicked off to a running start. Then, the incredible speed at which the mongoose travelled, reaching the generator in mere seconds… It all seemed so familiar to her.

"Princess, we are surrounded!" Antoine shouted, snapping Sally back to reality. The two were now standing back-to-back, badniks all around them. There was nowhere left to run, and fighting them would be impossible. "D-Do we wave ze white flag?"

"Don't have one," Sally replied. "Never needed it."

"An' ya won't here, neither!" The two looked up just as Bunnie Rabbot soared overhead, her arm extending and wrapping around the two before lifting them off of the ground. Antoine screamed and kicked at the sudden abduction, before calming down at the realisation that he had just been saved.

"Bunnie… just how many modifications did Rotor and Uncle Chuck make to your limbs?" Sally asked.

Bunnie grinned as she looked down at the princess. "Ah asked for the full package. If'n ah'm gonna be stuck with these here robot parts, ah'm gonna make 'em useful however ah can against the Doctor."

Bunnie lowered the two onto the ground, some distance away from the badniks, and landed beside them. "Ah checked on Rotor. He's fine for now, but ah don't know how long he can keep hidin'. Where's that girl run off to?"

"She said she was going to disable the generator," Sally explained, "But-"

"Guys!" The three turned at once, and found Mina Mongoose approaching them rapidly, a huge smile on her face as she proudly waved the yellow Chaos Emerald in her hand. "I got it! The generator's down, too!"

Sally's eyes were wide, and Antoine's jaw nearly hit the ground. Bunnie simply pumped her fist and grinned. "Atta girl! Now it's payback time!" Bunnie propelled herself forward, smashing through incoming badniks with her robotic arm held out. They exploded in her wake. "Ah'll go check on Rotor!" she called out as she raced towards the forest.

Sally gave an uneasy laugh. "Well, guess we're on cleanup today, Antoine."

"Oui, Princess," Antoine replied, readying his sabre. The two charged the enemy together, slicing through badniks and dodging their shots as they made for the forest. "Zere are still too many for just us!"

"I know! Just clear a path for Mina and then we'll-"

"_Can't hold on much longer, but I will never let go!_"

Sally and Antoine came to a sudden stop, turning around to find Mina Mongoose standing behind them, singing into a microphone. "What're you-" Before she could finish her question, Sally noticed the badniks all around them trembling.

Mina gave a sly wink, and continued. "_I know it's a one way track, tell me now how long this will last. I'm not gonna think this way, nor will I count on others._" The badniks began shaking as they stopped in their tracks, and Mina stomped a foot as she continued singing. "_Close my eyes and feel it burn, now I see what I've gotta do! Open your heart, it's gonna be all right!_"

The badniks collapsed, and Mina ran over. "We should leave now. The sound waves will only stun them for so long."

"But, what _was_ that?" Sally asked.

Mina held up her microphone, which had an eye that blinked at the two. "DEMON!" Antoine screamed as he jumped backwards, nearly abandoning his skin.

Sally giggled, reaching out to pet the microphone. "It's a Wisp, Antoine. I see. So your microphone is a wispon…"

Mina nodded. "Yep. It amplifies sound waves and can do all sorts of things, from empowering my allies to stunning my enemies."

"Well, that's certainly useful."

"Speaking of useful, here!" Mina took out the Chaos Emerald and handed it over to Sally. "You're the Resistance, right? You'll need this a lot more than I will."

"I'm afraid that _neither_ of you will be having the Chaos Emerald."

The three gasped. Antoine and Mina trembled, whilst Sally's fists clenched, as Shadow the Hedgehog marched towards them. Mina brought the microphone to her lips, but a Chaos Spear from Shadow knocked it out of her hands. "Ow!"

Sally placed herself in front of Mina, her energy blades at the ready. "What fortune. I come chasing one escaped prisoner, and find the very Resistance unit we've been after."

"Don't count your blessings yet," Sally warned. "You're alone here, and we have you outnumbered."

"Outnumbered, yes." Flames began to swirl around Shadow as he came to a stop. "But not outmatched."


	5. Vs The Ultimate Lifeform

Shadow jumped and performed a homing attack towards Sally, who crossed her energy blades to block the attack. As he bounced into the air, he came down for another attack from the side. Sally swiftly dodged to the right, and then took a swing at the hedgehog, only for him to bounce away and come at her again.

"I won't let you get away this time!" Shadow proclaimed as he crashed into Sally's crossed blades, this time driving himself into them rather than bouncing back. Sally grunted as she tried to keep her footing, but the flames emitting from Shadow's bracelet made it hard for her to focus.

Mina jumped up behind Shadow and delivered a soaring kick, prompting the hedgehog to fall back and leave Mina hurtling towards Sally's blades. "Oh no!" she cried as she collided with the blades, knocking both herself and Sally to the ground. "Owww… S-Sorry, are you o-" Before Mina could finish her question, Shadow was behind her, hand raised and ready to come down.

"Look out!" Sally cried.

Mina jumped to her feet and dodged the attack. "Too close!" she said, glaring at Shadow. "Attacking from behind? How low can you get?! You're nothing like he said you were!"

Shadow didn't respond. He simply rushed towards the mongoose, a Chaos Spear in his hand. Mina ducked as the spear came her way and delivered a sweeping kick, which Shadow avoided by jumping into the air. Before he could land, Mina also jumped and grabbed his arm, taking him by surprise as she threw him to the ground.

"You're also slower than I thought you'd be!" Mina chided as she landed before him. However, in an instant, Shadow rolled into a spin dash and launched himself at the girl. Mina was winded as he struck her in the stomach, but she was able to grab his sides and push him back as he continued to spin.

Shadow unrolled and planted his feet firmly on the ground, and then grabbed Mina's shoulders. The two were now pushing against each other, trying to knock the other one down. "So you're fast enough to keep up with my moves."

"I'm not just fast, I'm _way past cool_!" Mina answered.

Shadow scoffed. "So you're his successor, is that it? Well I have bad news for you." Shadow's rocket-propelled shoes activated as he continued pushing Mina. She kept her footing, but could feel herself slowly moving backwards. "You're nowhere near _his_ level, and you're certainly not at mine!"

"Unhand her, villain!"

Shadow gasped as he turned around, seeing a sharp, shining object coming down at him. He released Mina at once and clapped his hands together, catching the blade of Antoine's sabre mere moments before it reached his face. "You… must have a death wise!" Shadow pushed the blade back, sending Antoine falling onto his behind, and then turned to deliver a kick as Mina attempted to punch him.

As Shadow approached Antoine, the coyote let out a mild shriek and began scuttling backwards. "M-Mercy! Mercy!"

"I have no mercy for fools who continue to resist. Now die!" Shadow leapt forwards, but his attack was intercepted by Sally, who used one blade to shield Antoine, and swung the other around Shadow's defences.

Shadow fell back, but not in time to completely avoid injury. As blood dripped down his face, Shadow glared daggers at the two standing before him. "Missed," Sally remarked, before turning to Antoine. "Go tell Bunnie and Rotor to retreat. I'll keep him busy long enough for you to clear some ground."

"B-But Princess-"

"Don't argue, just go!"

"Nobody's going _anywhere_!" Shadow shouted, but before he could act, a figure appeared beside him.

"I wouldn't move if I were you," Nicole said, a gun pointed at Shadow's head. "Antoine, Mina, you two get going!"

"But-" Mina began.

"Get that Chaos Emerald back to our base! That's the top priority!" Sally told Antoine, before giving him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we'll catch up."

Antoine hesitated for a moment, but then gave a nod. Sheathing his blade, he called out to Mina, "Let us be taking our leave!"

"As I said," Shadow began, "Nobody is leaving here alive!"

Nicole fired, but Shadow dodged. He moved in to disarm her, but she was able to swiftly dodge the attack. He struck again, but she dodged, and then fired another shot, which missed.

As the two continued their back-and-forth of one attacking and the other dodging, Antoine ran over to Mina and grabbed her wrist. "Trust in zem. Zey will be fine, but we must not allow ze Chaos Emerald to fall back into Robotneek's hands."

Mina reluctantly nodded, and Antoine began to lead her away, until she took off at top-speed, dragging the poor coyote along behind her. "Wait! Too fast! My lunch, it will not hold!"

Sally smiled as she watched the two leave. She then turned back to the 'fight' between Nicole and Shadow. She could see Nicole starting to panic, and she knew that it would not take long for him to catch on. "Every second we buy them is vital," Sally told herself quietly. "No matter what, we have to keep him here for as long as possible."

Nicole yelped as Shadow finally landed a hit, his fist passing through her holographic body. The confused hedgehog stood there for a moment, a look of bewilderment on his face as he stared at the sheepish lynx. "Uh-oh, guess the cat's out of the bag," she said, the gun in her hand dissolving into mere pixels as she gave a nervous laugh.

Shadow's hands clenched into fists, and he turned to Sally, flames in his eyes. "You… You wasted my time with this mere projection!"

"If you're so mad about it, come and do something about it!" Sally challenged. '_That's right, lose your cool, Shadow. I'll take advantage of any opening you offer._'

Shadow reached for his wrists and removed the bracelets around them. The handheld attached to Sally's hip pinged, and Nicole cried, "Watch out! Those rings inhibit his power! If he removes them-"

Shadow glanced at the handheld, and then at Nicole. "I see. So your true body is…" a Chaos Spear formed in his left hand, and was thrown in an instant.

Sally gasped, bringing her left energy blade across her body to protect the device. The Chaos Spear collided with the blade, creating an explosion that shattered it, and sent Sally onto her back. She saw Shadow readying another spear and scrambled to her feet, just in time to jump out of the way of his next attack.

"Now you'll witness the ultimate power!" Shadow threw spears one after the other, not giving Sally any time to catch her breath or perform any counter movements. One spear caused her to trip, and her handheld was sent flying away from her.

Sally panicked as she saw Nicole's body laying out in the open. "Oh no!" she cried, pushing herself to her feet.

"Too slow!" Shadow said, throwing a final Chaos Spear to destroy the handheld.

Sally watched with horror as the spear drew closer, but a blast from the air destroyed the projectile before it could reach. Looking up, she was confused but delighted to see Bunnie flying above them, her robotic arm pointed down at the ground. "That was close!"

"Bunnie! I thought I told you all to get out of here!" Sally shouted, though her smile betrayed how happy she was that her friend did not listen.

"The others are goin' on ahead," Bunnie reported as she pointed her arm at Shadow. "Ah'm here to cover _you_." Shadow threw a spear at her, and she blasted it out of the air with another shot. "Y'all are the one who killed Sonic the Hedgehog, ain'tcha?!"

Shadow grinned. "Well, I can't claim _all_ of the glory for that."

Nicole pinged as Sally picked her up. "Girls, let's wrap this up! I'm detecting reinforcements coming in!"

Sally nodded, and looked up at Bunnie as the latter descended to the ground. "We have to leave!" As she turned to run, she found the badniks from earlier starting to get back up. "They're active again?!"

"Ah, good timing," Shadow said, walking closer to Sally and Bunnie as the badniks started to close in on them. "Even if you _had_ run away, I could have easily caught you, but this just saves me the-" A badnik attacked Shadow, cutting him off and forcing him to jump backwards to avoid a spear through the chest. He stared in shock as the robots all turned to face him, and marched forwards. The shock turned to rage quickly. "What do you think you're doing? I'm Shadow! Shadow the Hedgehog!"

The badniks stopped for a moment, their eyes lighting up, but then continued. "Priority one target: Shadow the Hedgehog," the badnik at the front stated.

"Fools! You asked for this!" Shadow used a spindash to tear through the first robot, and then swiftly began knocking down the ones surrounding it.

Meanwhile, Sally and Bunnie watched in silence as the badniks ignored them and moved straight for Shadow. "What are you waiting for?!" a voice called out behind them. They turned, and found a red-furred fox in a black cloak, holding a laptop with a small satellite dish attached. "They won't hold him forever! Get moving, before it's too late!"

"F.F.?" Sally asked, but she only received a grin in response, before the mysterious stranger turned and ran towards the woods. "Wait!"

"Sally-girl, ah think we should be leavin' now," Bunnie said, noting that Shadow was already halfway through the rogue badniks.

"Right. Let's go then, before more enemies show up."

Bunnie grabbed Sally's sides and took off into the air, flying away from the location as fast as she could. She peered over her shoulder to find that Shadow was indeed too busy with the badniks to follow them.

"Looks like we somehow made it out of there," Nicole said with an audible sigh. "And with a Chaos Emerald, too!"

Sally smiled. "Yes. With that, we can provide more power to our base, and improve long-range communications."

"Ah'm jus' upset we couldn't deck that hedgehog back there!" Bunnie stated.

"Shadow will get his comeuppance one day, Bunnie," Sally assured her. "I promise you, he'll pay for what he did…"

Upon their return, the three were relieved to find that everybody had made it back without any incidents. Mina had given the Chaos Emerald to Chuck, who escorted it to the vault under heavy security.

"Let us be celebrating!" Antoine declared, raising his sabre into the air as he cheered.

"Hear hear!" Rotor chimed in.

Sally cleared her throat. "The mission was a success, but it was a close call. Shadow showing up unexpectedly like that could have been the end of us."

"It all worked out though, didn't it?" Bunnie asked, joining the boys as they cracked open some Chaos Sodas.

"That was only because Mina showed up. And that mysterious fox."

"So was that really F.F.?" Rotor asked, before chugging his bottle.

"It might have been, but there's no way to know for sure," Sally answered. "Anyway, my point is that in the future, we need a protocol for what to do in the event one of Eggman's elite soldiers shows up out of the blue like that."

"Um…"

Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to Mina, who had followed them into the meeting room. "Oh, sorry about that!" Sally said. "We still haven't shown you around yet, have we?"

"Actually," Mina began, "There was something I wanted to tell you. Well, ask you, really. I guess you could call it a request?"

"What is it?"

"You see, before you guys found me, I was being held prisoner by one of the Egg Bosses. I managed to break out, but there are still many Mobians trapped there, including my boyfriend!" Mina clapped her hands together and bowed. "Please! You have to help me rescue them, before it's too late!"


	6. Prison Break

Mina pointed to a spot on the map of the Acorn Kingdom sprawled out on the table. "There, in what used to be an airport. The entire building was seized and remodelled to a temporary prison facility."

"'Temporary'?" Antoine asked.

"The prisoners there are only held for a short while, then they're shipped off to any number of places. Some are put to work, others are simply detained in more secure cells, and in the worst cases, some are experimented on…"

Bunnie clutched her robotic arm. "How terrible."

"I managed to pick the lock with a small explosive I smuggled past the guards, but the alarm sprang and they chased after me. My boyfriend was in the cell next to mine, and there wasn't enough time to break him out!" Mina looked down at her microphone, which lacked back with a sympathetic look. "It was all I could do to rescue this lil' guy on my way out."

Sally put a hand on Mina's shoulder and pulled her into a gentle hug. "You did very well, and don't you worry. We'll take care of the rest."

"Er, Princess," Rotor started, "Not that I don't agree with you fully, but this facility… it's under _direct_ command of Thunderbolt. She might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but she's an Egg Boss for a reason. She won't let us just waltz in and stage a full-scale prison break without a fight."

Antoine nodded his head. "I am in agreement with Rotor. If we had ze army of equal size, we could be staging a distraction, but our numbers are low, and much of zat is only trainees."

Sally hummed in thought, examining every detail of the map surrounding the prison. "The main problem is a lack of information. This map only shows an airport. I have no idea what the prison itself looks like, so I can't form a plan of attack."

"Oh!" Nicole chimed in. "If that's what you need, just give me one second!" Her hologram fizzled away, and everybody waited in silence, exchanging awkward glances as time passed. Eventually, Nicole came back, holding open a large map. "Ta-da! One map of the prison, complete with geological surveys of the area, a complete list of the guards and their patrol schedules, and most importantly, Thunderbolt's scheduled naptimes!"

Sally's eyes practically lit up and she jumped for joy. "Oh Nicole! If you were solid I'd hug you!"

Nicole blushed at the compliment. "Aw, it's nothing! Hacking into the Eggnet is easy when he doesn't even realise you exist."

Antoine tried to grab the map, only to be reminded of its holographic nature. He cleared his throat as Bunnie and Rotor chuckled at the sight. "Erm, so with all zis in our minds, _is_ zere an opening where we can be sneaking in without being noticed?"

Sally studied the map and schedules closely. "There are a few windows where it would be perfect to stage a prison break. We'd only have to disable some of the guard robots as they start their patrols, and then bust out before Thunderbolt finishes her nap and realises what's happening."

"What about security cameras?" Rotor asked.

"I can fix that," Nicole stated. "The guard robots all look and act alike. All I have to do is take footage of one of the patrol cycles and loop it, so it looks like everything is normal."

"I'm so glad we found you," Rotor said.

"Same here. The problem will be entering the prison itself though. The walls and the floors are all metal, so we have no hope of breaking in or digging a tunnel, at least not quietly."

"There's a way," Sally said, "But it won't be pretty."

"Lay it on us, Sugah," Bunnie said.

"Well, there _is_ a sewage system that dumps all the waste produced there into a nearby river."

Antoine's face fell. "I do not like where zis is going."

"That system isn't guarded. We could enter through the exit pipe, wade through all the sewage, and come out inside the prison itself."

Antoine's face turned green. "I am having _several_ objections to zis plan!"

"I can make all of us protective suits suitable for going through sewage waste," Rotor said. "Does it say how many prisoners there are? If we're all going to sneak out through the sewer…"

"It doesn't, but it won't matter," Sally said. "You only need to prepare suits for us four. On the way in, we'll plant an explosive charge here." Sally pointed to a wall on the map. "Once we get the prisoners out of their cells, we blow the charge. As long as the alarms haven't sounded before then, everyone can rush out before the guards have enough time to scramble."

"Five." All eyes turned to Mina. "I'm going with you."

"Mina, this a is a dangerous mission."

"You've already seen that I can handle myself! Besides, I can't just leave my boyfriend there, not again!"

"Her wispon _could_ come in handy in a bad situation," Rotor pointed out. "Plus, she's fast. If there are any prisoners that have trouble moving, she can help them get out."

"That's right!" Mina sang, smiling brightly at Rotor. "I was trained by _the_ Sonic the Hedgehog, so I know how to fight, too!"

"You're pullin' mah leg!" Bunnie cried in surprise. "The Hero of Mobius himself? The one who's stopped Robotnik many times?"

"The very same," Mina answered, standing proudly with her arms folded. "He taught me how to run as fast as I do, and how to kick butt! That's why I'm going to use those skills to save him, and then he can take down Eggman like he always does!"

"He is alive?" Antoine asked.

"Must be," Mina answered simply. "I don't buy for one second that he died so easy, especially when the news comes from Eggman himself. If you guys saw Sonic in action, you'd agree!"

"Mah stars, ah'd love ta see that!"

Rotor and Antoine turned to Sally, who simply stood staring at Mina in complete silence. Mina noticed this, and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Sally snapped out of her daze. "Huh? Oh, no! I was just thinking… you're probably right," she said with a smile. "Sonic's probably out there somewhere, waiting for our help. But until then, we have to do what _he_ would do!"

"Right?!" Mina agreed.

Sighing, Sally said, "Okay, okay. You can come with us, but you'll have to follow our orders as though you were one of us. Understand?"

Mina quickly straightened her body and gave a salute. "Sir, yes, sir!"

Laughing, Sally turned back to the map Nicole was holding and nodded. "Right, I'll go ask Uncle Chuck if he can prepare an explosive to breach the wall. Rotor, you prepare the suits. Antoine, why don't you show Mina to her room?"

"What can ah do?" Bunnie asked as she watched Sally leave the room with Nicole.

Sally paused for a moment, and then answered, "Go rest up. We'll need you in top shape."

As she left, Bunnie turned to Antoine and Rotor. "Did she seem different to y'all?"

Antoine jolted. "Ze princess, d-different? Now, whatever may you be referring to? It must surely be all in ze imagination, non?"

Bunnie simply deadpanned at the smiling and sweating coyote, as Rotor facepalmed. "Smooth, 'Twan. Smooth."

Antoine sighed. "It ees… not out place to say it, but ze princess is fine, so you do not need to be worrying about her."

Bunnie cocked her head to the side, but when she saw Rotor also turn to leave, she decided to leave it be. "Ah guess that's her business, an' hers alone." She watched as Antoine escorted Mina out of the room, leaving her the last remaining person inside. She clutched at her robotic arm, staring down at the floor. "Ah wonder if they don't see me as one of 'em yet? … Well, ah guess ah'll just have ta prove mahself! Ah'll show 'em what ah can do on this next mission!"

* * *

Chuck hummed as he examined the files pulled up by Nicole. "Yes, I should be able to put something together, but I'm out of remote triggers. You would have to set a timer and break out the prisoners before it expires."

"If we set the timer too high, we run the risk of being noticed," Nicole pointed out.

Sally studied the schedules. "Even assuming the worst-case scenario and we take too long, the maximum time we have before the next patrol would pass us by is fifteen minutes," she said. "We should aim to release all the prisoners in twelve."

Chuck nodded. "As long as you're confident. I'll have that bomb put together in just a few hours. I would recommend attacking the prison at night."

"No, the robots there are equipped with thermal sensors. They'd have an advantage over us in darkness. We'll leave tomorrow at noon. That way the prisoners will have had time to wake up." Sally watched as Chuck walked over to a pile of scrap and began to search through it. "Say, Uncle Chuck?"

"Yes, my dear?"

"Sonic's… probably alive, isn't he?"

Chuck stopped, turning around slowly to look Sally in the eyes. "Well… I would certainly hope so."

"It's just, we can't really trust everything that Eggman says, right? If it's the Sonic I used to know, I'm sure he wouldn't die so easily."

"The problem is that if it's the Julian _I_ know, he wouldn't just let his long-time nemesis live after defeating him." Chuck adjusted his glasses. "But then, that was over ten years ago. A _lot_ has changed since then. Julian changed his name and invented that 'Metal Sonic'. That black hedgehog defected over to Julian's side. Sonic has been to other worlds, saved many people, and from what I understand he's even defeated gods themselves. I suppose I'm a bit out of touch with my nephew. Perhaps Julian _would_ keep him alive, as long as he had a purpose."

If I may interject," Nicole started, "Searching through the Eggnet, I've found numerous records devoted entirely to Sonic, including details on how to defeat him. One key similarity is rubbing his victory in Sonic's face."

Chuck huffed. "Gloating? Well, that aspect of him sure hasn't changed."

"In other words, it's very likely that Sonic may indeed still be alive. But I haven't found anything data to confirm or deny it…"

Sally smiled. "Thanks, Nicole. What you've found is plenty." Sally clenched her fists and nodded. "Mina's absolutely right. Sonic _must_ be alive! And we'll save him. We will."

Sally and Nicole left to go and check on Rotor. As the door closed behind them, Chuck let out a heavy sigh, wiping the tear forming in his eye. "Sonic, wherever you are, please be safe."

* * *

The following day, the group set out early. They followed the river, laying low and keeping quiet to avoid potential scouts in the area. Eventually, they reached the pipe where all of the prison's sewage was being dumped. Even through their suits, the smell was terrible. The water was an unnatural mix of brown and green, the remains of the fish that used to swim there floated atop the surface, and even the grass and flowers surrounding the river began to wilt and die.

"Cleaning this up is gonna be a nightmare when the war is over," Rotor said.

Sally led the group to the pipe. She activated Nicole's hologram and asked her to lead them through. "You'll be able to light our way," she reasoned, and Nicole accepted. As they waded through the sewer filled with garbage, waste and dead rats, the group were thankful for the hazmat suits they were wearing. "It's just up ahead," Sally announced as they rounded another corner. "What's the time?"

"Five minutes until the shifts change," Nicole reported.

"Alright, we'll wait for five minutes and then head up."

Antoine groaned. "We are waiting down _here_?"

"If we go up too soon, we'll be spotted," Sally told him, and the group stopped as they reached a ladder. "Just try to think of happy thoughts and… don't look around too much."

Nicole dimmed herself, reducing the light that the group had. "I'll shut my hologram form off when we go up. Less chance of us being spotted."

Sally nodded, and turned to address the team. "Okay guys, get ready. We only get one chance at this and we have to be quick."

"Ah'm ready, Sal," Bunnie responded.

"Just lead the way," Mina added.

Sally reached out her hand, and the rest joined her. "Let's do it to it!"

After the five minutes passed, Nicole returned to her handheld and the group climbed up the ladder, reaching a hatch at the top that led them to an open courtyard. Searchlights swept the area, but using her revised knowledge of their patterns, Sally was able to lead the group safely inside the building, removing their suits once they were clear and throwing them aside.

They stopped at a wall, where Rotor placed the explosive charge that Chuck had put together. "Timer set to twelve minutes," he said as the time appeared on the screen, and began ticking down. "Once this goes off, the alarms will ring."

"Then let's be quick." The group ran through the prison, stopping occasionally to let the guards walk by or to avoid the cameras placed all around. Occasionally they would bust out and attack the guards if they were too problematic, hiding the bodies in nearby closets. "Nicole, get ready to hack the cameras overlooking the cells."

"Already on it," Nicole said through her handheld. "Just a few more… There! The monitors are now showing footage from the previous night!"

After sneaking past the last two robots walking by, the group reached the cells, where a number of frightened and exhausted Mobians looked with surprise at their sudden visitors. Some were cautious, not sure if they were here to rescue them or interrogate them, whilst others jumped to the fronts of their cells and begged to be let out.

"Quiet," Sally shushed. The prisoners began to calm down, and Sally had Rotor, Bunnie and Mina get to work picking the locks. "We're going to get you out of here, but you need to keep your voices down."

"Thank you," a cat Mobian said as she and her cellmates scrambled outside.

"Oh thank you!"

"See? I told you the Resistance would come."

"Merci!"

As the cells opened one-by-one, Sally had the prisoners line up in rows of three behind Antoine, who was keeping an eye out for sudden visitors. She counted the heads as their number of escapees grew. "Okay, looks like there are 58 prisoners altogether."

"Wait, where's Ash?!" Mina ran from cell-to-cell, whipping up dust from the floor as she moved. "He's not here! Why not?!"

"Mina, honey, calm down," Bunnie said, placing a hand on Mina's shoulder and motioning for her to breath slowly.

Mina, who was beginning to hyperventilate, took a second to breath in, held it for a few seconds, and then let it out.

"He was taken for interrogation," one of the prisoners spoke up. "I think that was a couple of shift changes ago…"

Sally grimaced. "That's a long time for a simply interrogation."

"It's because he came in with the one who escaped," another prisoner said. "I guess Thunderbolt wanted revenge for making her look bad."

Mina gasped. "I-It's because of me?!"

"Mina, calm down," Bunnie repeated. "Sal, those maps show where the interrogation room is?"

"There are a number of them," Sally said, looking through the maps on her handheld. "There's no information on which ones are being used."

"I'll go look for him," Mina said. "You get the prisoners out of here!"

"No," Sally said, stepping in front of Mina before she could race off. "If any of the prisoners have trouble running away, _you_ are the best one to help them."

"But-"

"Leave it to me. I'll search the interrogation rooms and join you."

"Then I shall accompany you, Princess," Antoine said.

"I'll be fine sneaking around by myself, especially if their focus is drawn on all of _you_."

"Perhaps, but can you be checking _all_ of ze rooms before zey notice you are here?"

Sally hummed, and then nodded. "Okay. Antoine and I will find Ash."

Mina's eyes darted from Sally to the prisoners, then back to Sally. "But it's my fault he's in trouble. I can't ask you to-"

"Mina, remember – you promised you would follow my orders on this mission." Sally offered the distraught mongoose a gentle smile. "Trust us. We can handle this. If it's just one prisoner, we can find him and be out of here in no time."

"We gotta get a move-on," Rotor cautioned, checking his watch. "We only got four minutes to get back to the escape route."

Mina stared into Sally's eyes, her own trembling. When she saw how calm and reassuring Sally's gaze was, she steadied herself. "Okay," she said. "Then, please, rescue my Ashy."

"'Ashy'?" Rotor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We will," Sally assured. "Antoine, let's move."

"Yes, ma princess!"

As Sally and Antoine scurried to find Ash, the rest of the group escorted the prisoners through the halls.

As the two snuck past the guards by hiding in the shadows, they eventually heard the explosion in the distance, followed by the sounds of sirens wailing. "That's our cue," Sally said. She and Antoine jumped from the shadows and assaulted the guards scrambling to reach the site of the breakout.

"We must take advantage of ze confusion!" Antoine cried as he slashed through robots with his sabre.

"Down here!" Sally rounded a corner, leading to a hallway lined with doors on either side. "Search every room!"

As Antoine took the left side, Sally took the right. They worked down the hall, opening every door, but as they reached the end they still had no sight of the wayward prisoner.

"Okay, let's try another set!" The two once again battled through the guards as they raced through the prison.

"Why are zere so many cells for so few prisoners?!"

"This was going to be where he kept his high-profile prisoners, before he launched the new Death Egg!"

Antoine groaned as they reached another hallway lined with doors on either side. "Zis will take all day!"

"Less whining, more searching!"

"Oui, oui."

* * *

"C'mon, just a little farther!" Bunnie cried as she hovered above the prisoners fleeing across the open plains, carrying three elder Mobians that were unable to keep up. "Once we're in the forest we'll have cover!"

Rotor stayed at the back of the group with Mina to ensure that no straggles were left behind. Rotor used the Void Wispon he had brought along to keep incoming gunfire from reaching any of the prisoners, but his Wisp was beginning to get tired. "Just a little more, buddy!"

Mina sang a song through her own Wispon, bolstering the stamina of the prisoners and allowing them to run faster. She stopped as she noticed one prisoner trip over a branch, and she rushed to scoop him up. "You hurt?" she asked as she continued running with the goat Mobian in her arms.

"N-No, just my pride," he said with a blush.

Mina nodded, slowing down so that he could jump back to his feet and continuing running on his own. She went back to singing, until a flash of light interrupted her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw something approaching them, fast.

"Here she comes," Rotor groaned. Noticing that the gunfire had stopped, he called out to Mina, "I'll slow her down! You just get everyone out of here!"

"What?! But-"

"No buts! They take priority!" Rotor came to a stop, and when he saw that Mina had stopped, too, he said, "Take them to the evacuation site! That's an order!"

Mina hesitated, but reluctantly, she obeyed. She started running again, leaving Rotor behind to deal with a very angry Thunderbolt.

"Out of the way, walrus! I don't have time to deal with _you_!"

"Make time," Rotor said, pointing his Wispon as her.

"Hah! You think a toy like that can do anything to _me_?!" Thunderbolt fired a wave of electricity at Rotor, short-circuiting the Wispon and forcing the Wisp inside to jump out.

"Gah! These aren't really my cup of tea, anyway." Rotor put the Wispon away, and raised his fists as he slowly approached Thunderbolt.

The chinchilla sparked and snickered as she raised her own fists. "Well, I guess this could be fun."

* * *

Opening another door, Sally lit up as she found her target. "Antoine! Here!" She ran inside an approached the male mongoose, tied up on a chair in the centre of the room with a piece of cloth acting as a gag in his mouth. He struggled and tried to speak, but his voice was muffled. "It's okay. I'm here to rescue you."

As she undid the binds around his hands, Ash reached up and pulled down the gag. "It's a trap!"

Sally gasped and turned around. Standing before her was Shadow the Hedgehog, his hand raised in the air as he glared down at the princess. He brought it down, barely missing as Sally jumped backwards, over Ash and landing behind him.

She drew her energy blades as Antoine entered the room, his sabre out. "Well now. It appears I was right," he said with a chuckle. "I thought you might try to stage a prison break, after hearing that mongoose's story. I also knew there was no way you could leave even one prisoner behind."

"Shadow, why are you doing this?" Sally asked. "I know I don't know a thing about you, but from what I'd heard, you were a good person. A hero! You saved the Earth from that alien invasion, and you helped Sonic save the Wisps from Eggman!"

"Yes, I did do those things," Shadow confirmed.

"Then why?!"

"It doesn't really matter, does it? None of you are leaving here alive."

Sally gritted her teeth together. "Sorry, but we didn't come here for a fight… Antoine!" Sally jumped over Ash again, this time bringing her energy blades on Shadow, forcing him to step back. "Get Ash out of here!"

"Non! Our chances are high two-on-one!"

"But he's in danger if we do that!" Sally kept up her assault on Shadow, keeping him on the defensive. "Rescue the prisoner! I'll find my own way out!"

Antoine watched as Sally pinned Shadow against a wall, and then delivered another attack, only for the hedgehog to catch it and deliver a kick in retaliation. Sally took a step back, but regained her composure quickly. "… As you say." He ran over to Ash and cut the mongoose free. "Zis way, and be quick about it!"

"But what about-"

"You heard her! She will be finding her own way out!"

Antoine led Ash out of the room. Shadow watched with a glare, but was unable to chase them as Sally landed a kick on his chest. "Eyes on me!"

Shadow growled as he set his sights back on the princess. "When I'm finished with you, I'll keep you locked in this very room! Then, I'll chase down your friends and kill them all before your eyes!"

"Geez, mellow out a bit," Sally chided. "Anyway, this room's a little too cramped for my liking."

With that, Sally charged Shadow, pushing him back and making her way past him, into the hallway outside. She slammed the door and lowered the metal bar to lock it, moments before the hedgehog began banging from the inside.

She took the chance to run through the hallway, barely making it around a corner before the sound of the door flying off of its hinges and banging against a wall reached her ears. "Sally, take the next left!" Nicole told her.

Sally nodded and turned left, reaching a large storage room filled with crates and metal containers – perfect for hiding in!

As Shadow entered the room, he clicked his tongue as he saw no sign of the princess. "Hiding? What a cowardly tactic. Come out and fight me, like a true freedom fighter would."

Sally ignored Shadow's provocations as she sat perfectly still behind a pile of crates, keeping her eyes closed so that she could focus on the sounds of his footsteps.

"… Okay then, we'll do it the easy way." She heard what sounded like metal hitting the floor. "Chaos…"

Sally's eyes snapped open. "Oh no…"

"Bla- GUH!"

Sally risked looking from her hiding spot to see what had happened. She could see Shadow kneeling on the floor, and standing behind him was… "Antoine!"

Antoine, panting and shaking as he stood before the felled Shadow, laughed as he stared at the slash wound down Shadow's back. "I will… no let you… harm ze princess!" Shadow slowly climbed to his feet, startling the coyote and prompting him to swing his sabre again. This time, however, he stopped short as Shadow turned and stared him in the eyes. Antoine's entire body froze as he saw the hatred, the rage, in those eyes, and when Shadow took a step forwards, he took a step back. "I-I will not-"

"Cowards…" Shadow reached his arm out, grabbing Antoine by the throat and lifting him into the air, "Should stay OFF the battlefield!"

Antoine dropped his sabre and claws at Shadow's hands, gasping for air. Shadow started to tighten his grip, only to be interrupted when a large, metal bar struck the back of his head, knocking him down once more.

Antoine fell onto his rear, finally able to breathe once more. "M-Merci, Princess!"

"I told you to get Ash out of here!" Sally scolded.

Antoine picked up his sabre and climbed to his feet. "Oui, but you see, zere was-"

"Nngh…"

"EEK!" Antoine grabbed Sally's hand and bolted out of the room as Shadow began to rise. "Zere will be time for explanations later, when we are hopefully still alive!"

Shadow clenched his fists and gave chase.


	7. Prison Break - Part 2

Through the dense foliage of the nearby woods, the prisoners continued to run, even as the sounds of the prison's sirens faded to nothing. They ran and ran, until finally they emerged into a clearing, where an Eggman Empire transport ship was waiting. They hesitated, before realising that the Eggman insignia had been crossed out, and replaced with the emblem of the Kingdom of Acorn.

"Over here!" Chuck called out as he spotted the escapees. He waved them over, flanked by members of the Knothole Resistance armed with Wispons. "Where are the others?" he asked as Bunnie and Mina walked up.

"We ran into a couple-a problems," Bunnie said, unloading the prisoners she was carrying. Hamlin began ushering the prisoners onto the ship. "Thunderbolt caught up to us, and Rotor's fightin' her off on his own!"

"That's not good. We should back him up." He looked over Bunnie's shoulder. "And what about Antoine and the princess?"

"Ash was taken somewhere else," Mina said dejectedly. "They went to look for him. I told them they didn't have to, but…"

Chuck sighed, running a hand through his spines. "That girl. Well, I can understand not wanting to leave anyone behind, but still…"

"We'll go back Rotor up," Bunnie said, drawing a surprised look from Mina. "We got the prisoners back here safely, so now we can go help him out! Right?"

Mina grinned. "Right!"

"Now hold on, you two," Chuck began, "Thunderbolt's no pushover."

"All the more reason we gotta help him!" Bunnie argued.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't, but you can't just go rushing in there, either. You need a plan."

"Well, what're ya suggestin'?"

Chuck hummed as he tried to put together a plan. "Maybe I can suggest something," a voice called out. The group turned to find somebody in a brown cloak approaching them, a yellow-furred mongoose behind her.

"Ash?!" Mina asked with a gasp, running to check that it was really him. "Ash, you're safe!"

"You need a distraction, and I've got the perfect thing," the cloaked figure announced with a toothy grin.

* * *

Shadow was relentless in his chase, throwing Chaos Spears and smashing through doors, and even walls, to reach his prey. Even Eggman's robots weren't safe from his rampage; if they were in his way, he would trash them and keep up his pursuit.

The only advantage that Sally and Antoine had was the ability to split up, forcing Shadow to split his attention and allowing the other a chance to stage an ambush, usually knocking Shadow down, or even out of a window, but no matter how many times they gave him the slip, he would find his way back to them soon after.

"This is hopeless!" Antoine cried as the two entered what seemed to be a control room. He drew his sabre and cut through the robots manning the computers as Sally closed the door behind them, locking it just as Shadow began banging against it. "How long will eet hold?"

"If this is the control room, it should be strong," Sally said, before another bang sounded, and a sizeable dent appeared on the door. "But then he _is_ the 'Ultimate Lifeform'."

"Zere is no other way out!" Antoine reported, trembling as he faced one of the surveillance monitors that showed Shadow right outside. He punched the door again, this time making it creak. "We are ze sitting ducks!"

"Look around! There must be a vent in here or something!"

"A vent, of course! We must search!"

"Sally, plug me into that station!" Nicole called out.

Sally looked around, her eyes settling on a terminal with a port for external devices. "What's your plan?"

"Whatever it is, please be getting on with eet!" Antoine pleaded as he scoured every inch of the room.

Sally nodded, and plugged her handheld into the terminal. The lights in the room went out for just a moment, and then the monitors were all replaced with static. "What's happening?" Sally asked.

"I'm hacking into the facility's systems! If I can find the find the Robot Override Protocol, I can shut down all of Eggman's robots in the prison!"

"That would certainly give us some breathing room, but what about Shadow?"

The screen on the handheld showed a frowny face. "Well, there's _something_ I can do, but you would still need to find a way out of this room."

"Princess! Look at zis!" Sally turned around to find Antoine standing above a crate full of weapons. Laser blasters, rocket launchers and grenades, the types used by Eggman's badniks. "Zis should prove useful for holding 'im off!"

Sally grinned. "Nice! Place a grenade by the door and rig it to go off as soon as it opens!" She watched Antoine get to work, and turned back to the monitor to find Nicole still sweeping through the facility's database. "After that, grab a couple of those launchers! They should prove useful in getting out of here!"

The static on the monitors ended, replaced with images of Nicole's smiling face. "Okay, I'm in! Just retrieving the password! … Eggman… Well, I guess it's easy to remember."

Another bang at the door, and one of the hinges came loose, causing Antoine to shriek and almost drop the grenade in his hand.

"Okay, I've shut down the robots! Just gotta do one more thing…"

Antoine returned to the crate and picked up one of the rocket launchers, strapping it to his back. He also handed one to Sally, and then looked up at the ceiling. "Zere! Ze way out!"

Another bang at the door, this one causing a sizeable dent. "Nicole, hurry!"

The face on the monitor turned to sweat drops. "I'm trying, but the connection here is so bad!"

"Princess, we must go!" Antoine cried as he removed the grate.

"Okay! Let's go!" Nicole cried, and Sally scooped her up immediately. She climbed into the vent, Antoine following behind her and closing it behind them. He waited for Sally to move some distance away, and then pulled the pin off of another grenade, leaving it at the entrance and scrambling to get away.

The door flew open, crashing against the opposite wall, and as Shadow took one step inside, the grenade that was rigged went off. Not long after, the grenade in the vent exploded, too. Sally and Antoine could feel the rumbling, but had thankfully made it far enough to be safe.

"There should be a way into the courtyard up ahead," Sally said. "From there, we'll blast our way out of here and catch up with the others."

* * *

Thunderbolt screamed as she fired a bolt of electricity at the walrus, who created a void to shield himself. She roared, and fired another bolt, only for the same thing to happen again. She stomped her foot, angrily yelling, "Stop doing that! I'm trying to fry you!"

"That's the point!" Rotor returned. He could feel the Wispon getting hotter and could hear the ragged breaths from within. It had been badly damaged from the blast, but the tired Wisp hopped back inside anyway, wanting to help however he could. "Sorry, little fella, but try to hold on a little longer," he whispered, patting the device.

The Wisp inside made a sound of 'I'll try', and Rotor fired another void to shield from another barrage of lightning. Thunderbolt screamed again in frustration, and he took the chance to make some ground. This was his plan – take advantage of Thunderbolt's short fuse to gain ground every time she stopped to have a fit. Just a few more, and he'll be able to strike her directly!

"Then try _this_!" Thunderbolt unleashed _three_ bolts of lightning this time. Rotor stopped and fired three voids, but only two of them opened. The third collapsed as the Wispon overheated, forcing him to drop it to the ground. Before the lightning could hit, he swiftly dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding a grim fate.

"HAH! I've got you now!" Thunderbolt fired another bolt of lightning, and Rotor took cover behind a tree. The tree was charred and felled by the force of the blast, and Rotor was left exposed once more. Another bolt, that Rotor just about avoided with a fake-out that threw off Thunderbolt's aim.

"I can't keep this up," Rotor muttered to himself. He decided his only plan was a desperation tactic – charge Thunderbolt directly and hope for the best.

Thunderbolt grinned as she saw the walrus approaching. "Your funeral, buddy!" She charged a bolt that would be fired directly at him, but a sudden purple mass in her face surprised her. "What?! Get off of me!"

Rotor gasped as he watched Thunderbolt discharge the electricity she had been building into the Void Wisp, causing it to faint and fall to the ground. "NO!" he yelled, gaining speed and tackling Thunderbolt before she could charge another attack.

Thunderbolt bit into Rotor's arm, causing him to shriek in pain. He grabbed the back of her collar, trying to pull her off, but she discharged electricity directly into him, causing him to let go and fall to the ground, twitching.

She spat as she let go of his arm and rose to her feet, dusting herself off. "How dare you dirty the clothes Lord Eggman gave me?! You'll pay for that!"

Before she could make good on her word, she spotted a ship flying in the air above, heading towards the prison. "Oh no! The prisoners!" Thunderbolt charged electricity and fired it at the ship, causing it to fall out of the sky and crash towards the ground. "HAHAHAHAHAHAH! NOBODY LEAVES LORD EGGMAN'S PRISON! NOBODY!"

"'Cept us."

Thunderbolt gasped as she was suddenly pushed to the ground and pinned down by somebody's foot. She tried to bite into it, but found that it was metallic! "OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!"

"Sorry hun, you ain't zappin' me the way you did mah friend," Bunnie said, scowling at the Chinchilla struggling on the ground.

Nearby, Ash and Chuck were helping Rotor to his feet, whilst Mina scooped up the downed Wisp. "Y-You guys, what are you doing?!" Rotor demanded, furious at his friends. "You sacrificed the transport ship to-"

"We didn't sacrifice anything," Chuck said. "Come, the ship is ready to leave!"

"But, the ship just-"

"That was just a decoy," Mina told him. "We had a second ship. There was only one person inside."

"Who?" Rotor asked. "And where did you get a second ship?"

"I helped myself to it, while you guys were keeping the warden busy," the cloaked figure said as she approached the group. She looked down at Thunderbolt. "It's way past your bedtime, kid."

"Kid?! How dare you?! Who do you think you-" Thunderbolt's tirade was interrupted by a sudden chop to the neck, and she fell limp on the ground.

"Did you jus'-" Bunnie began.

"She's only unconscious," the figure said. "Come now, let's go. Your other friends still need help!"

* * *

Sally and Antoine exited the vents, jumping down into the courtyard below. As Nicole said, the robots prowling the facility were all offline. This was their chance! All they had to do was blast a hole through one of the walls, and run.

Except that, before they could do _anything_, they saw Shadow approaching them from the prison's entrance. "Zut alors! Does nothing stop zis man?!"

"Let's see!" Sally aimed her rocket launcher at the hedgehog, and fired. She grunted at the recoil, and Antoine watched with bated breath as the rocket zoomed towards Shadow.

Shadow simply dodged out of the way, continuing his approach as though nothing happened, even as the rocket exploded behind him. "Guys, run!" Nicole shouted, assuming her hologram form so that she could point towards a gate at the other end of the courtyard.

"But that's-" Sally began.

"It'll be fine! I deactivated the safeguard!"

Sally nodded, tossing away the spent launcher and grabbing Antoine's wrist. "Let's go!"

"Oui!"

The two ran as fast as they could, making use of whatever they could to slow Shadow down. Throwing the inactive robots in his path, dropping smoke bombs, even having Nicole try to stop him by blocking his path, but it seemed the hedgehog remembered that trick from last time and simply ran right through her holographic body.

"We're almost there!" Sally cried, not daring to look back as she could practically _feel_ Shadow's cold grip on the back of her neck.

"My legs are burning!"

"Fight through it, Antoine! Just a little more!"

"You can't escape!" Shadow told them, forming a Chaos Spear in his hand. The two passed through the gate, exiting the courtyard and leaving the facility altogether. "Hmph! Chaos…" As Shadow passed through the gate, he was stopped. A sudden, violent surge of electricity surged through his body, lighting the whole area around them.

Sally and Antoine stopped, breathing heavily as they watched. "What is…" Antoine got out, but he could barely form a complete question.

"That's… the security… system…" Sally answered through pants. "But I don't…"

"Allow me," Nicole said, a proud smile on her face. "The security system is designed to fry any unauthorised people who pass through with ten thousand volts of electricity. I simply reversed it, so that it'll hit anybody who _is_ authorised."

Sally and Antoine started laughing, though only softly. "N-Nice one, Nicole," Sally said, raising her fist. Nicole gently brought hers in, simulating a fist bump between the two of them.

As the electricity died down, Shadow was left kneeling on the ground, smoke rising from his body. He raised his head, glaring at the two of them. His body glowed red…

"Chaos…"

Sally's smile quickly became a frown. "Antoine, we gotta run!"

"I can't, Princess… Ma legs, zey are jelly…"

"BLAST!"

The two covered their eyes as a huge blast knocked down the gate, and created a smouldering crater with Shadow in the centre. As the dust settled, Shadow walked towards the two. Antoine pulled out rocket launcher and aimed, but before he could fire, Shadow was already in front of him, knocking the weapon out of his hands.

"Sacré-" Antoine fell onto his back, and Shadow stomped a foot onto his chest, keeping him pinned.

"ANTOINE!" Sally charged Shadow, bringing out her energy blades, but in her state, he was able to easily grab her by the wrist and throw her aside. Then, he produced a Chaos Spear and aimed it down at Antoine's face. "DON'T!"

Antoine squirmed, trying to get free, but he was too weak. He reached for his sabre and attempted to swing it at Shadow, but he could not get a good enough angle to swing with any sort of force. He was likely only tickling the hedgehog at best.

He looked up at his assailant, and noticed the morning sun beginning to rise behind them. With a gasp, he positioned his sabre so that the light would reflect into Shadow's eyes. As Shadow winced and raised a hand to cover his eyes, Antoine felt his foot lift slightly, and used the chance to push up, throwing Shadow off his balance. From there, he swept Shadow's feet, reversing the situation so that he was on his feet, and Shadow was on his back.

"Take zis!" He drove his sabre down, but it was caught by Shadow's hands. He tried to push it, but the hedgehog was fighting back.

"Keep him down!" Sally shouted as she rushed in.

Shadow grunted, pushing his head up and pulling legs in. He entered a spindash, causing Antoine to lose his grip and throwing the sabre to the side. He then propelled forwards, into Antoine's stomach, winding the coyote.

As he unrolled, he turned and parried the princess' attack, delivering a blow to _her_ stomach, too. With both opponents dazed, he created two Chaos Spears.

"Sorry, but not today."

Shadow gasped, turning around only to be met by a boot to his face that sent him flying back.

Sally looked up, seeing a figure in a brown cloak standing above her. She couldn't make out anything other than the red tail coming from the back of the cloak. The figure leaned down and scooped Sally up in one arm, and it was then that Sally noticed her saviour was attached to a rope.

"Get the other one," the mysterious person said as she pulled her rope. Suddenly, the two were being pulled upwards, and Sally could see the ship they had prepared to transport the prisoners flying above them.

Bunnie helped Antoine to his feet. "Up an' at 'em, soldier!"

"M-Ma sabre…"

Bunnie found the weapon lying on the ground, and extended her arm to grab it. "Ah got it, don't you worry none." As she handed it back to Antoine, she also spotted the orange rocket launcher, also resting the ground. She grabbed it, and then activated the jets in her feet to carry Antoine up to the ship.

Shadow activated his own jets to give chase, only to be intercepted by a sudden warping of space brought on by Rotor's Wispon. He was trapped in a void, unable to move as his targets escaped. Helpless, he could only watch as the ship flew away, and by the time the void went away, it was too far for him to give chase.

* * *

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Mina cried, smothering Ash with hugs while her Wispon tried to join in. Tears streamed down her eyes, but she smiled as she felt her boyfriend return her affections.

"I'm glad you're okay, too. I knew you'd do something crazy to try to rescue me…"

Mina simply laughed at that. "Well, it's what _he_ would do…"

"You alright there, buddy?" Rotor asked his Void Wisp, who was resting on the floor. It gave a tired nod, sighing as it nestled into a comfy state and fell asleep. "Heh. Sorry to put you through that after so much. Rest up, you deserve it."

Meanwhile, Sally approached her mysterious saviour, who had removed her hood to reveal her face. She was a red-furred fox, wearing a yellow bow in her long hair. "You're F.F., yes?"

The fox grinned. "Fiona Fox. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Princess." She gave an exaggerated bow. "I hadn't intended to reveal myself so soon, but you really took me by surprise with this raid."

"You've been watching us?" Rotor asked. "And sending us intel anonymously. Why?"

"I wanted to be sure you were worth joining up with. Many Resistance branches crumble before they even rescue one person." She gave a shrug and sighed. "Fighting for freedom's good and all, but there's no point in putting yourself in with the losers."

"Kind of an… odd approach to freedom fighting," Sally said, her arms crossed. She tried to keep her tone light, mostly out of exhaustion, but also out of gratitude for saving their lives.

"Princess, she is ze one who got Ash out of ze prison," Antoine said. "She told me to go and back you up."

"Thanks for that," Ash said, approaching the group with Mina clinging to his arm. "And thanks for going to such lengths to rescue me, even if it meant jeopardising your mission."

"Kid, you _were_ the mission," Uncle Chuck said. "All of you were. Leaving behind even one of you would've meant the mission failed."

Sally nodded. "That's how things work in the Knothole Resistance. No one gets left behind."

"And it's exactly that type of attitude that sets you apart," Fiona said. "That's why I want to join you guys. You might just be what I was looking for."

"And what's that?" Rotor asked.

"I'd prefer to keep that to myself, at least for now. You _do_ need all the help you can get, don't you?"

"Well, we do need more hands, but are you sure?" Sally asked. "We're cut off from the other Resistance branches, and we're under-resourced."

"About that, Princess," Chuck said, "I got word from Hamlin just before I left Freedom HQ. We've made contact with another Resistance Branch."

* * *

Eggman tapped his foot impatiently, examining the damage done to his lovely prison facility. Thunderbolt knelt before him, waiting silently for her retribution. "Thunderbolt, maybe you can answer a riddle for me."

"Y-Yes, Doctor?"

"When a general is given the most advanced weapons in the world, armed with the knowledge of the greatest man in the world, and is in charge of an impenetrable fortress, how is it that that general can fall to a group of teenagers from a forgotten era playing hero?"

"Um… Maybe we have a spy leaking our information?"

"No. Try again."

"M-Maybe they're more organised than we thought?"

Eggman stomped his foot in front of Thunderbolt's face, startling her. "One more try."

"M-Maybe it's… the general's fault?"

Eggman grinned. "So you _can_ get there in the end. I did the liberty of examining your control room. _Why_ is the password to this facility's entire security network simply my name?

"Because it's the greatest name in the world!"

"That may be, but it's _not secure_!" Eggman picked up Thunderbolt by the back of her collar and brought their faces together, glaring directly into her eyes. "Why do you have scheduled naptimes when you _should_ be monitoring the fort 24/7?!"

"I-I-I need breaks to r-r-recharge…"

"And _why_, for the love of all things _evil_, did you not fortify the sewage system?! That's infiltration tactics 101!"

"But it smeeeeeeeelled!" Thunderbolt cried, her face white as Eggman's glare only worsened. "I'm sorry, Lord Eggman! I swear, I won't mess up again!"

"I doubt it, but it doesn't matter!" He threw Thunderbolt aside, and she was caught by Shadow. "Count your blessings, though. I can't kill you; I'm understaffed as it is."

"O-Oh, I see. Well, thank you, sir! You are truly the greatest, most benevolent-"

"Save it, I'm not in the mood. Instead, I'm demoting you, and placing you under a general who _might_ be able to whip you into shape."

Thunderbolt's ears folded against her head. "W-Who?"

"Her." Eggman pointed to a green pronghorn, who was surveying the sight and relaying orders to robots. Another pronghorn – though this one appeared to be a robot – stood beside her with a clipboard, writing stuff down. "Clove, come here and say 'hello' to your new underling!"

Clove turned around, approaching Eggman. The robotic-looking pronghorn followed. Clove's face was deadly serious as she stared at the chinchilla. "You're the ex-warden here?"

Thunderbolt felt her rage building already at the way this newcomer addressed her. "Doctor, surely you're not serious! You're giving _my_ job to this, this… _wannabe_?!"

Clove sighed. "So you're going to be a handful, I see." She extended her hand. "I'm Clove the Pronghorn."

Thunderbolt simply huffed, refusing to shake her hand. However, the robotic pronghorn pulled her into, smiling sweetly as she looked between the two. "Come on now, you two! Let's all get along, if we're gonna be working together!" She turned to Thunderbolt. "My name's Cassia! I'm Clove's younger sister. Nice to meet you!"

"I'll leave you to it then, Clove." Eggman turned to leave, but stopped to say one final thing. "I'm sure, for _your sister's_ sake, that you'll provide me with much better results than the catastrophe that happened here."

Clove saluted. "I won't let you down, sir."

* * *

Sally, Nicole, Antoine, Rotor, Bunnie and Chuck assembled at Freedom HQ's meeting room, after having settled the rescued prisoners into some rooms, and ensuring that everybody was okay. Hamlin and Doctor Quack were already there, waiting at a computer monitor.

"We managed to extend the range with the Chaos Emerald," Doctor Quack said, "But we still had to limit it to avoid being detected. We could only reach the Downunda branch."

"Put them through," Sally said, and Hamlin pressed a series of keys. Soon, static showed on the monitor, and then the image cleared, revealing an orange-furred echidna on the other side.

"Is this the Downunda Resistance that we've reached?" Sally asked.

"It is," the echidna said, though the voice was crackly. "I've been made aware of your situation, and I'll try to answer whatever questions you have. My name is Shade the Echidna. It is a privilege to make your acquaintance, Princess."


End file.
